with the right decision." "this is a longtime coming. it's bittersweet. we don't have sierra - that's the bittersweet part."there were no witnesses to connect antolin garcia torres to sierra lamar's disappearance from this morgan hill crossroads.no evidence that he knew her.no murder weapon, or evidence of what happened to her body.defense attorneys claimed that she was a runaway and is still alive.prosecutors pinned their hopes on forensic evidence from her phone and purse, found nearby.the purse had her clothes inside ... and there, they found the defendent's d=n=a.he was arrested two months after her disappearance ... and detetctives discovered her d=n=a and a strand of her hair in his car.that was enough for the jury of of six women and six men.they delivered their verdict after deliberating for just two days. "we now move immediately into the next phase, the penalty phase, where the jury will decide whether the defendent gets the death penalty or life without parole."that process begins next week.whatever the

outcome, sierra's mother says she is glad her fdaughter's killer will never walk the streets again. "it gives us peace as a family, knowing that this won't happen to another child and that you can't get away with something like this>' (catherine) in addition to murder and kidnapping the jury also found garcia-torres guilty of attempted carjacking. prosecutors say he targeted women at safeway stores around morgan hill in a series of failed abductions - before he kidnapped sierra lamar. vicki and grant? (vicki) today's verdict was five years in the making - and the bay area has followed this case every step of the way. (grant) and kron four's rob fladboe has been there since the beginning... he joins us live now from san

jose. and rob, you were in the court room this morning - when the verdict was read. what was the reaction like? (rob live) people started lining up outside the courthouse hours before the verdict was to be handed down. every seat was taken in department 40 and dozens more people were watching via closed circuit tv from another courtroom. and then, a few moments after 9 a.m., what has to rank among the more dramatic moments in santa clara county criminal court history, began to unfold. you cold hear a pin drop as the jury, having deliberated for just under two days, filed into the courtroom, where no cameras have been permitted. asked by judge vanessa zecher if the jury had in fact reached a verdict. the forman

said yes and after it was briefly viewed by the judge, the verdict was read aloud by the court clerk. at the first utterance of the word 'guilty,' there were audible sighs and gasps from the gallery as people passed tissue boxes. i saw sierra's father steve fight back tears. i was in the second row and saw no visible emotion from defendant antolin garcia torres, seated,to the balif's right, wearing a blue shirt and tie, as the clerk continued reading a verdict that found him guilty on all counts. nor could i read any emotion on the faces of the garcia torres family, seated directly in front of me. outside the courthouse, pent up feelings were released amid a sense of relief and long delayed justice for the family and friends of the still missing sierra lamar.steve lamar/sierra's father" i couldn't look up, i just kept looking down and then a huge

rush of emotion hit me all at once, it was indescribable..." marlene lamar/sierra's mother" there was a lot of sighing and emotion from sierra's friends, it was like they were releasing their pain when the verdict wasannounced..." marlene lamar showed me the bracelet she wore to court. a kind of good luck charm bearing sierra's name, as she graciously spoke about how the verdict has eased some of her pain, thanking the jury for doing the right thing. (rob live) the emotion in that courtroom quickly spilled out into the hallway where some people were openly weeping as they hugged and searched out marlene and steve and their other daugher danielle, to offer their congratulations, only to do so again and again outside the courthouse in a scene that lasted a couple of hours.

(grant) the family of antolin garcia-torres rushed out of the courtroom this

morning - after his guilty verdict was read. terisa: "can you say anything about your son?"mother:"no'nats of car door slamming. his mother remained silent as reporters questioned her about the verdict. however, another relative of garcia-torres briefly spoke to reporters as she was leaving... saying antolin is innocent. garcia-torres relative: "it's very sad on both families. very unfortunate situation. that's all i have to say. terisa: "do you believe he's guilty?"garcia-torres relative: "no." the woman did not want reveal her name or say how she was related to antolin garcia-torres. (vicki) as we have said - antolin garcia-torres does face the death penalty after being found guilty in the kidnapping and murder of sierra lamar. however, it's been áyears since the state of california has actually executed a prisoner. kron four's dan kerman joins is live now outside the san quentin state prison - with more on this story. dan? the last execution at

california's san quentin prison was in january of 2006 when clarence ray allen was put to death. that same year a federal judge put the 3 drug lethal injection process on hold. and there hasn't been an execution since.passions on both sides of the issue remain strongcurrently there are 728 men on death row at san quentin prison another 20 women are on death row at central california women's facility in chowchilla. this past november voters approved prop 66, which was meant to streamline the process and get the death penalty going again. but that has been put on hold and its constutionalal ity is set to be reviewed by the california supreme court later this year. year.supreme court the california reviewed by ity is set to be constutionalaland its put on hold and its constutionalality is set to be reviewed by the california supreme court later this year.

(vicki) and don't forget - to download the kron four mobile app. we sent out a push alert this morning alerting you about the guilty verdict in the sierra lamar murder trial. we have also posted a poll on our social media sites... we want to know if you think antolin gracia-torres deserves the death penatly for the death of sierra lamar. it's all on kron four dot com. (grant) i am here with criminal defense attorney curtis brigs. antolin garcia-torres, 26, was found guilty by a santa

clara county superior court jury in san jose today for the first-degree murder of 15-year-old sierra lamar in 2012. sierra has not been seen or heard from since march 16, 2012, and garcia-torres was arrested on may 21, 2012, after investigators found his dna on her jeans, which were recovered near where she went missing outside of morgan hill. sierra's dna was also found on an interior backseat door handle and on the outside of a pair of work gloves in garcia-torres' vehicle. the jury, which began deliberating thursday morning

after a three-month trial and announced that they had reached a verdict monday afternoon, also convicted garcia-torres of the attempted kidnappings of three women in safeway parking lots in 2009. more than 100 members of the public attended this morning's verdict reading, requiring the courthouse to provide a live stream of the proceedings in a second courtroom. jurors will now select between a sentence of death or life without the possibility of parole, and prosecutors and defense attorneys will be allowed to present evidence. (vicki) we are tracking other breaking news this evening... president trump has (vicki) we are tracking other

breaking news this evening... president trump has fired fbi director james comey. steve aveson is tracking the latest developments on this story - and joins us from the newsroom with more. steve? that's right vicki, james comey was in california today

when he learned he is out as director. president trump saying comey's firing 'will mark a new beginning' for the fbi. in a statement the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein says the former director mishandled the hillary clinton email investigation and this move was an effort to regain public and congressional trust. however, leading members of the intelligence committee question the timing. the clinton email issue took place last summer and currently the fbi is in the midst of an investigation both into russian meddling in the election and possible connections to the trump campaign. the white house says the search for a new fbi director will begin immediately. some democratic senators are calling for a special prosecutor to continue the russia investigation and now republican senator john mccain has joined in that call. this is all moving very fast, and coming up at six - we will have a live report from washington with reaction. grant, back to you. (grant) coming up,

an east bay doctor - arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a patient. and now investigators fear - there's more victims. (vicki) plus, the search for a missing yuba city college student is over. the body of aly yeoman - found. what we are learning about the investigation. (grant) and next, an update on our top story. the man accused of kidnapping and murdering morgan hill teen sierra lamar - found guilty. we'll hear from members of that community - next. (brittney) i'm chief meteorologist brittney shipp, i'll have your full bay area forecast after the break.

[ birds chirping ] [ inhales, exhales ] [ announcer ] cigarettes are not just dangerous when they're smoked. [ rat squeaking ] they're dangerous long after. cigarette butts are toxic. they release chemicals that poison our water... and harm wildlife. and millions... are polluting our environment. [ sniffing ] [ seagulls squawking ] "we're just grateful and

blessed that the jury came up with the verdict that they did, it's gonna be a safer world because of them. "(vicki) a jury in san jose has found a man guilty in the 2012 killing of sierra lamar whose body has not been discovered. (grant) 26-year-old antolin garcia-torres faces the death penalty or life in prison for the murder and kidnapping of the 15-year-old. lamar disappeared on march 16, 2012, on her way to a school bus stop near her home in morgan hill. investigators found garcia's dna in her handbag and in his car.the sentencing phase starts next tuesday. (vicki for more than five years -- the morgan hill community has shared the pain of sierra lamar's loss. today, word of the guilty verdict spread quickly around town... from sierra's old high school -- ann sobrato

high school... to downtown morgan hill. we spoke with people who have closely followed the case and in some cases even took part in volunteer search efforts... and, they're happy for sierra's family that the verdict came back guilty. summer davis/resident- "it's not easy losing someone you love -- its very hard, so i'm glad that the killer was brought to justice."//noelle davis/resident- "i can't even imagine what it must be like to lose a child. um, i've lost my brother and i've also lost my husband, so i know what its like, you know, to lose someone that you really care about and for her, you know, being so young and everything, its just, you know, horrible, you know, that that happened. but at least her family will see justice finally after all this time."(vicki) and, as we've mentioned -- this case is still not over. the sentencing phase will begin on may 16th... garcia-torres could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. (grant) bart police are looking for a man who punched another rider... in an apparent hate crime attack at

the powell street station last night. officers say the victim was standing on the platform just before midnight when the suspect walked up and called him several gay slurs. that's when police say the suspect punched him in the face. the victim went to police to report the crime as the suspect boarded a pittsburg/bay point train. officers stopped the train at the macarthur bart station but were unable to find their suspect. he is described as a black man, about 5 feet 8 inches tall wearing a black security uniform. (vicki) another big story we are tracking tonight... a doctor is facing multiple sexual assault charges in the east bay. this comes in the wake of one of his patients claiming she was sexually assaulted during a recent doctor's appointment. investigators tell kron4's haaziq madyun..they are concerned more victims could be out there a family practice doctor arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting one of his patients

with the special victims unit of the contra costa county sheriff's office say dr. rajesh singla was arrested monday here at his doctor's office in the john muir outpatient clinic on treat blvd in walnut creek

flatering. it is dated march 2017. he earned one star accompanied by a remark that reads...worst experience ever.

chief meterologist brittney shipp. .mostly sunny and warm conditions will persist through the day. cooling trend begins on wednesday as onshore flow and the marine influence increases. a cold front will then enter the north bay with a slight chance of rain showers on thursday, cooling temperatures there. continued breezy and unseasonably cool conditions are likely friday and into the upcoming weekend.

(grant) coming up, several travelers handcuffed after chaos breaks out at a florida airport. what happened and who is too blame. (vicki) and next, a fugitive and high risk violent

sex offender found right here on a bay area college campus. we'll show you how he was able to attend classes for nearly a ásemester... without being caught. on september 9, 2010, pg&e learned a tragic lesson we can never forget. this gas pipeline ruptured in san bruno. the explosion and fire killed eight people. pg&e was convicted of six felony charges including five violations of the u.s. pipeline safety act and obstructing an ntsb investigation. pg&e was fined, placed under an outside monitor, given five years of probation, and required to perform 10,000 hours of community service. we are deeply sorry. we failed our customers in san bruno. while an apology alone will never be enough, actions can make pg&e safer. and that's why we've replaced hundreds of miles of gas pipeline, adopted new leak detection technology that is one-thousand times more sensitive, and built a state-of-the-art gas operations center. we can never forget what happened in san bruno.

that's why we're working every day to make pg&e the safest energy company in the nation. you're going to be hanging out in here. so if you need anything, text me. do you play? ♪ ♪ use the chase mobile app to send money in just a tap, to friends at more banks then ever before. you got next? chase. helping you master what's now and what's next. (grant) authorities say a

body found in the feather river in northern california is missing 20-year-old college student aly yeoman. the sutter county sheriff's office used dental records to identify the body today. a fisherman found the body sunday afternoon near live oak, about 50 miles north of sacramento. investigators say yeoman was last seen march 30 driving away from a friend's home in yuba city. her truck and cellphone were found near a river levee in live oak. investigators are still trying to determine how yeoman died. (vicki) a sex offender is behind bars after using a fake name to attend santa rosa junior college.(grant) the 41-year-old had been attending classes for nearly a decade before he was caught.. kron 4's lydia pantazes brings us reaction from students.

a parolee and registered sex offender from orange county was arrested at santa rosa junior college today where he was attending classes using a different name. daniel jaebok lee, 41, was wanted since october in orange county for a felony violation of sex offender registration requirements. his past offenses include indecent exposure, child molestation, attempted lewd acts on a child under 14 and assault with intent to commit rape, college police said. campus police became aware of lee because of reported unusual behavior in one of his classes, police said. after a week's search, lee was arrested outside a class at emeritus hall around 10:50 a.m. today. he was booked in the sonoma county jail and will be extradited to orange county, police said.

(grant) justice for sierra lamar. a guilty verdict read in the kidnapping and murder of the morgan hill teen... outside the courthouse there were tears of joy. after the break - hear from those who spent countless hours searching for her. (vicki) plus, police in the east bay asknig for your help.. after several people robbed a busy costco store.

(vicki) every since sierra lamar went missing there has been a huge effort to find her. (vicki) nearly a thousand people have donated their time to search for the missing teen. (grant) as kron four's terisa estacio reports, many of those volunteers were in court as the verdict was announced. with their red shoes, buttons and shirts - all in honor of sierra.. the volunteers who have poured their heart helping sierra lamar's family over the years were right there once again standing in solidarity as this latest chapter unfolded. mary doering, sierra lamar search

volunteer. "i have been searching since the beginning. right now, more then ever elated."kelli wilkins, sierra lamar search volunteer. " i think we are relieved that there is justice, that the jury saw what we knew." volunteers and family members were asked not to wear pins or anything in court showing their support for sierra - so as not to unfairly influence the jury - but now that the guilty verdict is in - emma spencer, volunteer "i figured with the verdict in, today it was fitting to wear buttons to represent her." konnie bunt, searcher volunteer. "i had a different shirt on when i came in over this and i took it off when i got outside."konnie bunt says she did not know the lamar family when she first heard the news of sierra's disappearnace 5 years ago - now she says everyone is very close. 25:41 bunt. i volunteered when the search center was first opened - now we are one big family. and bunt had this to say about antonlin garcia-torres. 25: 29 bunt, volunteer. "now the coward needs to let us know where she is, the family needs, sierra deserves closure. and that was a common theme among the searches and lamar's friends were also searched years for her. 16:46 alex meija, volunteer and school friend. "i think we are definitely hopig that, maybe he gets a smaller sentence, it is all we can hope for now, so that we can get the closure we had not had ever." in san jose, te.

(grant) our coverage on today's verdit continues online. there you can find reaction from family, friends, searchers, lawyers. we also want to hear from you - we are taking a poll on whether or not you believe garcia-torres deserves the death penalty. it's all on kron four dot com. (vicki) a california lawmaker wants to make intentionally interfering with an audit a

crime after a controversial audit on the university of california.democratic assemblyman al muratsuchi says he does not yet have details on how his bill would be enforced.an auditor's report said uc administrators hid 175 million dollars from the public in a reserve fund. it also found the uc president's office tried to interfere with the audit.uc president janet napolitano has disputed the audit's findings. (vicki) police have arrested a man in connection to a violent robbery at a costco store in danville last night...and say two other suspects are still on the run. according to police...three suspects entered the costco on fostoria way just after closing time. one of them appeared to act like a look out...while the other two went after the jewelry cases inside. (steve simpkins/danville police chief)"one of them forced it open with a hammer, took some goods, all three of them fled. two of them got away but one of them was detained by costco employees and held him down until we got there."(vicki) officers later identified

the suspect pinned down by employees as 21-year-old kesean edwards. he is now in custody and is being questioned by investigators... hoping to find leads on the two remaining suspects at large. they got away with an unspecified amount of (anchor) time now to check on our weather... with chief meterologist brittney shipp. .mostly sunny and warm conditions will persist through the day. cooling trend begins on wednesday as onshore flow and the marine influence increases. a cold front will then enter the north bay with a slight chance of rain showers on thursday, cooling temperatures there. continued breezy and unseasonably cool conditions are likely friday and into the upcoming weekend. (glo) new developments in the case of aaron hernandez. . . prosecutors (glo) new developments in the

case of aaron hernandez. . . prosecutors say they are appealing a ruling that a massachusetts judge announced today. . . which throws out former n-f-l star's 2013

murder conviction. in a court hearing today . . .the judge said the court "had no choice". . . based on massachusetts law. . . .which says a conviction is not final until an appeal is heard. prosecutors argue that hernandez forfeited his right to appeal. . . when he made a "calculated" decision to commit suicide last month. hernandez was found dead in his prison cell.his lawyer says the investigation into his death continues. (vicki) still ahead, mayhem at the airport... a massive fight breaks out at a florida airport after spirit airlines canceled several flights. after the break - who the airline says is to blame. (grant) on wallstreet... it was the third straight day that the nasdaq notched an all-time high, but each of those has been by only a marginal amount. adding about 18 points today. the dow lost 36 points and a half. and the s&p dropping nearly 3 points.

who are these people? the energy conscious people among us say small actions can add up to something... humongous. a little thing here. a little thing there. starts to feel like a badge maybe millions can wear. who are all these caretakers, advocates too? turns out, it's californians it's me and it's you. don't stop now, it's easy to add to the routine. join energy upgrade california and do your thing. there was chaos last night at the spirit airlines terminal in fort lauderdale, florida.. frustrated passengers began brawling -- even with sheriff's deputies.(vicki) catherine heenan is here with details - including the reaction from a federal judge today... (catherine) even

from a distance - you could see something was wrong. people began pullingout their cell phones to take video.... and the crowd of onlookers kept growing. a closer look shows just how rough it was getting...people were frustrated by a string of cancelled flights because of a labor dispute at spirit. a mob of angry customers began beating on counters and screaming at the staff.... when sheriff's deputies were called in -- the brawling got even worse. today - a federal judge ordered the airline pilots to stop boycotting flights as part ofa labor action. that's probably not much consolation to the hundreds of people who were stuck at the airport. passengers: they delayed us for 8 hours. then they cancel last minute which is upsetting because people are sitting there with babies and stuff for 8 hours. kids are crying. passenger/no name given: we've been waiting in line here for almost three and a half hours. multiple flights have been canceled today, and all of a sudden one particular

flight got canceled and a mob ensued in front of everyone else who had been waiting in line. well, at that point the ticket agents couldn't handle what was going on. three people were arrested last night - and now face charges including inciting a riotand resisting arrest. deputies say all three were seen threatening the airline's front counter employees. as the suspects were led away....some people in the crowd began cheering....beca use theyblamed them for making things even worse. eleven flights were cancelled yesterday... over the last week - there have been about 300 cancellations. vicki and grant? (grant) still ahead, the warriors break out the brooms once more.. and sweep the utah jazz. sports director gary radnich joins on set next - with what's ahead for the dubs.

(vicki) a stunning development out of washington dc today... fbi director james comey... is out. pam moore is in the newsroom with what we are working on for kron 4 news at six. (pam) stunning is right vicki... late this afternoon... the white house anounced that president trump fired fbi director james comey. officials say, comey was dismissed over the handling of the investigation into hillary clinton emails. the firing also comes just days after he testified on capitol hill about the fbi's investigation into russia's meddling in last november's election.... and possible connections between russia and trump's campaign. there is a lot of reaction coming from both republicans and democrats tonight. we will have it all and a live report from washington, d.c. tonight at six. vicki back to you. (grant) time now to talk

some warriors-- and no surprise here, golden state is back in the western conference finals.(vicki) the dubs...in the west finals for the third year in a row....after finishing off the utah jazz in four games. golden state remains undefeated in the postseason... and for more on this run, we turn to kron4 sports director gary radnich. gary? warriors will not play untill sunday or next tuesday when you are that good..thats how

it goes down...emg sot..4 staright versus port;land...4 straight versus utah...mark caprter roports. and the warriors...lights out once again...leading from wire-to-wire. steph curry...with a game-high 30- points. klay thompson chipped in 21... and draymond green with a triple-double. the golden state defense held utah to 37-percent shooting from the field. for a closer look at the victory, we turn to mark carpenter. before yesterday's game, draymond green made headlines...when he basically said, he hasn't been impressed with cleveland's playoff opponents so far. that

forced the guys at tnt to say they haven't seen much from who the warriors are facing either...and their games have been just as boring. of course, draymond responded accordiingly. "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. i mean that's not boring, this team continued to fight. i think cleveland has been playing great basketball. i mean you watch them, it's been amazing, but then you watch other teams they're playing against, not so much. so, i like, that's just my opinion though, but whatever who cares."durant :you're not allowed to have an opinion draymond. you just supposed to play basketball alright? draymond: true. sorry. ho-hum another round, another sweep. and last night's closeout game looked a lot like the other matchups in the series.... warriors came out firing, the jazz made a run, and then golden state delivered the killer blow. and it all starts with a suffocating defense. "you know we score the ball, but we preach defense every single day. it's not let's just try to outscore our opponents. we gonna try to stop you and then we gonna try to run the score up, but when you got so many guys that you can defend and are smart, that makes for a good defense."

"that was something that steve wanted me to relay to the team. pace, pace, pace, pace make or miss." and speaking of steve kerr, it's still not known if he'll return to the bench at all this postseason. but it's clear he has full confidence that mike brown can handle the job...every step of the way. "you know he always ends every conversation with 'mike, you're there. i'm not there. so these are just suggestions. you gotta feel it and you gotta make the decision as to which direction you are gonna go with, with the team and i couldn't ask for anything better." the warriors await the winner of the houston-san antonio series. depending on when that wraps up, they'll play on either sunday or tuesday. mark carpenter, kron4 news.

.mostly sunny and warm conditions will persist through the day. cooling trend begins on wednesday as onshore flow and the marine influence increases. a cold front will then enter the north bay with a slight chance of rain showers on thursday, cooling temperatures there. continued breezy and unseasonably cool conditions are likely friday and into the upcoming weekend.

(grant) up next, an officer responds to a complaint call about a couple of kids playing basketball in the streets. but it's what he did next - that has now gone viral. this story - after the break.

[ birds chirping ] [ inhales, exhales ] [ announcer ] cigarettes are not just dangerous when they're smoked. [ rat squeaking ] they're dangerous long after. cigarette butts are toxic. they release chemicals that poison our water... and harm wildlife. and millions... are polluting our environment. [ sniffing ] [ seagulls squawking ] (grant) someone called the

police to complain about kids playing in the street in a kansas neighborhood over the weekend. (vicki) but what officers did when they arrived...left the kids and the community smiling. c-n-n reporter emily younger takes a closer look at this heart-warming story. natsit's a hoopin' kind of day for the gonzalez brothers in hutchinson.as the boys take turns sinking baskets, they're greeted by their newest teammate...nats...officer scott finster.you see, finster may not be in his hutch p-d uniform for today's game...nats ...but over the weekend, he was geared up and raring to go. natsfinster says he was called to the kids south hutch neighborhood saturday after someone complained about them playing in the street.instead of punishing the youngsters, finster briefed them on street safety...then took them on in a game of pig.officer scott finster, hutchinson police dept. :"it's really good to come out and be able to do that with kids and be able to interact with the community especially as a new officer."

natsthat feeling is echoed by the boys mom.amanda gonzalez, mother: "oh man, it gave me so much hope. it gave me what i needed, and for my kids to see that there's good in everything. every situation there can be a positive, you just have to look for it."you don't have to look far here in hutch.natsbut one very important question still remains about saturday's game of pig...reporter question: "who really won that game?" officer scott finster, hutchinson police dept. :"we are going to leave that off the record for now just for the safety of everyone here." nats (vicki) that video of the officer's saturday hoops game with the game was posted on facebook.by monday afternoon, it had more than 10-thousand views. (vicki) that wraps up kron 4 news at 5.(granti) steve

aveson and pam moore are here with kron 4 news at six. (steve) grant and vicki thank you... a guilty verdict in the sierra lamar murder trial. coming up at six.. we will have reaction from convicted murderer antolin garcia-torres family. (pam) plus... a shocking announcement from the nation's capitol... president trump has fired fbi director james comey. we will have a live report on the fallout. kron 4 news at six is next.

um, justice is served here for us today, justice for sierra."> ( pam ) five long years .... and a jury answers the question -- who killed sierra lamar. antolin garcia- torres is found guilty of murdering the 15-year- old girl ... bringing some closure to her family.... and all the people wondering what happened to her on a march morning, back in 2012, as she headed to school. ( pam ) good evening i'm pam moore.( steve ) and i'm steve aveson. the jury, after less than two days of deliberations, finding garcia-torres guilty on all counts. kron four's rob fladeboe was in the courtroom when the verdict was handed down and joins us now live from san jose. rob. marlene lamar/sierra's mother " nothing will take a

way the pain we have been feeling every day and will feel for the rest of our lives but we have been praying for this type of ending,,,,for justice..."sierra lamar's mother marlene is talking about the justice metedout moments earlier tuesday as a jury handed down a verdict that found antolin garcia torres guilty in the march 2012 kidnap and murder of her 15 year-old daughter.steve lamar/sierra's father" i couldn't look up, i just kept looking down and i just felt a flood of emotions..."there were audible sighs of relief and gasps in the packed courtroom as the verdict was read. the 26 year old garcia

torres displayed no visible emotion as the court clerk read further that the jury also found him guilty of attacking and attempting to carjack three other women in what prosecutors told the jury was a prelude to the murder of sierra lamar.david boyd/ dep. dist attorney" now we begin the next phase where the jury must decide whether to sentence mr garcia torres to the death penalty of to life in prison..."" we now move into the penalty phase where the jury must decide whether the defendant will be sentenced to the death penalty or serve a sentence of life in prison...."the guilty verdict caps a 5 year long saga that saw some 750 peoplefrom across the bay join in weekly searches for sierra lamar. while she is still missing, many said their search for justice for sierra has come to an end.doug tollas/searched for sierra " i feel like five eyars of hard work has finally paid off....for all the bee stings and poison oak and all the slipping and falling..."mary doering/searched for sierra " it's a relief. we finally

have some justice for this crime and all of the other crimes...."roger nelson/searched for sierra" i just hope that goes a long way to bring some comfort to the lamar family....." ( rob ) the jury will get some time off and then they will reconvene for the penalty phase of the trial. that could another two to three weeks. antolin garcia torres, who is now back in the county jail, where he has resided for the past five years, as he has several times previously, turned down my request for a jailhouse interview. ( steve ) the family of antolin

garcia- torres's was in court today as the verdict was read. they have long stood behind the 26 year old - and his claim that he had nothing to do with sierra's disappearance. ( pam ) as kron four's terisa estacio reports, the family quickly left the courtroom after the news broke. nats: (terisa estacio reporting) estacio - "do you have any comment - hudled together - family members - including antonin garcia- torres parents' left the crowded courthouse steps shortly after the guilty verdict was delivered. estacio - "do you think he will tell where the body is now?" seemingly distraught - garcia torres mother wiped away a tear, but when asked repeatedly to say something about her son, she stayed silent as she and others were escorted by sheriff's deputies to a waiting car.estacio - "

do you believe he is guilty." another person said to be relative did speak up - "it is very sad for both of the families, very unfortunate situation." "do you think he is guilty?" no." as for garcia-torres defense team - who argued through the 3 month long trial that sierra was not murdered or missing, but that she was simply a runaway - only this - estacio - "are you going to say anything? no, not today." in san jose, te ( pam ) reaction to this verdict came quickly... especially online... with numerous posts coming in immediately after it was read. ( steve ) this story lit up our website and countless others, becoming the most talked about story in the bay area this morning. grant

lodes is here with some of the reaction. ( grant ) this is one of those stories that felt like everybody had their eyes on. it did not take long for people to chime in. the facebook page "help find sierra lamar" has tracked the case ever since her disappearance and served as an organizing place for the volunteer search effort. it kept its reaction simple ending its post with "justice served" others chimed in... one person posting "please tell them where you put her. give them closure, this is not enough, death penalty, why should he get to live." and crying emoji. on twitter it was a similar tone... "guilty!" now speak up and let her family know what really happened!"( grant ) a lot of people are echoing the sentiment in their postings... wanting garcia-torrres to reveal where sierra's body is. you can weigh in on this case on the kron 4 facebook page,

twitter feed or online. do you think garcia-torres should get the death penalty? let us know by voting in our poll on kron4.com. steve and pam. ( steve ) there is one thing about the death penalty in california... the state has the largest death row in the nation... but it has not executed anyone in over a decade.( pam ) besides the long legal process for inmates, the lethal injection process itself has been under scrutiny. kron 4's dan kerman is outside san quentin tonight... with where the death penalty stands in california. dan? right now there are 728 men on death row at san quentin prison 20 women at the central california women's facility in chowchilla have also received a death sentence. but an execution hasn't been carried out since 2006 when clarence ray allen

was put to death.that's because that same year a federal judge put the 3 drug lethal injection process on hold. sot marc klaas/death penalty advocatebut passions remain main strong for opponents as wellsot aundre herron/death penalty focusthis past november voters approved prop 66, which was meant to streamline the process and get the death penalty going again. but that has been put on hold by the california supreme court california supreme co ( steve ) there is a lot to digest with this case... so we are going to give you a quick time line of how things unfolded. sierra lamar disappeared on march 16th of 2012... she was walking to the bus stop in morgan hill... headed to school. two months later... antolin garce-torres is arrested following weeks of surveillance by investigators. it would take more than four years before the case would go to trial... with jury selection beginning in october

of 2016. then today... more than five years after she disappeared... a jury convicted garcia-torres of her murder. the penalty phase set to begin next week. week.begin next phase set to the penalty garcia-torres jury convicted disappeared... a after she than five years today... more then 2016. week.begin next phase set to the penalty of her murder. ( steve ) there is a lot to digest with this case... so we are going to give you a quick time line of how things unfolded. sierra lamar disappeared on march 16th of 2012... she was walking to the bus stop in morgan hill... headed to school. two months later... antolin garce-torres is arrested following weeks of surveillance by investigators. it would take more than four years before the case would go to trial... with jury selection beginning in october of 2016. then today... more than five years after she

disappeared... a jury convicted garcia-torres of her murder. the penalty phase set to begin next week. ( pam ) we have more coverage of the verdict in the sierra lamar murder trial . we will talk to a criminal defense attorney .. and get some insight into how this might have played out in the jury's minds. also... we will look ahead to the penalty phase, where antolin garcia- torres finds his life is now on the line. that is coming up at 6:30. ( steve ) a big breaking story is unfolding right now in washington d-c. late this afternoon president trump announced he fired f-b-i director james comey.( pam ) comey was actually in los angeles attending an fbi event when he learned he was fired. that event was canceled... and we just got this video into kron 4 .... of the now former fbi director on the tarmac at l-a-x... you can see him shaking hands with some of the law enforcement .. who escorted him to the airport... before boarding a private jet and presumably heading back to washington d-c tonight.

the reaction to comey's dismissal has been rapid .... and it is raising all kinds of questions. we go now to scott mclean with our partners at c-n-n... he is in washington with the late details. scott - what have you learned? the white house announced tuesday that fbi director james comey, has been fired.the shocking announcement came less than an hour after the fbi sent a letter to congress, admitting recent claims he made about hillary clinton's aide's e-mails, were misleading. senator richard blumenthal/ -d- judiciary committee: "it certainly is nixonian in its tone to fire someone of this stature... in the midst of an investigation is absolutely unfathomable for the commander in chief of the united states to do in the midst of an investigation."the comments were made last week when comey was testifying about clinton's former aide huma abedin, and her practice of forwarding e- mails to her husband, former

congressman, anthony weiner. james comey/ fbi director: "huma abedin appears to have had a regular practice of forwarding e-mails to him, for him i think to print out for her, so she could then deliver them to the secretary of state."----butt to----"she forwarded hundreds and thousands of e-mails, some of which contained classified information."but, the majority of the thousands of e-mails reviewed by the fbi actually got to weiner's computer via a backup system for abedin's phone. not because she was forwarding them to him.white house press secretary sean spicer says president donald trump fired comey on the "recommendation of the attorney general and the deputy attorney general.comey, was appointed as head of the fbi by president barack obama in 2013.

( pam ) we first broke this news through the kron four mobile app this afternoon. if you

want to be the first to know about breaking news... you can download our app for free ... be sure to enable the push alert feature. ( steve ) a travel warning tonight. why people are being told to watch out if they are going to texas.( pam ) and a walnut creek doctor... in serious trouble. what he is accused of doing to a patient... that led to his arrest.( brittney ) i'm chief meteorologist brittney shipp... the full forecast is coming up in less than 10 minutes.

(steve on cam)a family practice doctor in the john muir health network has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a female patient36-year-old dr. rajesh singla (of milpitas) was arrested monday at his office in the john muir outpatient clinic on treat blvd in contra costa county. investigators say this follows a sexual assault complaint filed against him earlier this month jimmy lee/contra costa county sheriff's office spokesperson: "he was booked on numerous charges, two counts of indecent exposure and one count of attempted oral copulation. we believe there may be additional victims out there. we are asking if anybody received treatment from him, who might have felt uncomfortable or are hesitant to come forward, to give us a call, talk to our detectives and let's find out if they were in fact a victim" john muir health released this statement, which reads in part..."we are shocked and saddened by the arrest of dr.

rajesh singla, a family medicine physician practicing at our outpatient center at 1450 treat. the care and safety of our patients is always our highest priority, dr. singla is currently on leave pending the outcome of the investigation and the legal process."dr. rajesh singla was arrested and later released on $130-thousand dollars bail (pam) bart police are looking for a man who punched another rider... in an apparent hate crime attack ... at the powell street station last night. officers say, the victim was standing on the platform just before midnight, when the suspect walked up and called him several gay slurs. that's when police say, the suspect punched him in the face. the victim went to police to report the crime as the suspect boarded a pittsburg/ bay point train. officers stopped the train at the macarthur bart station ... but were unable to find their suspect. he is described as a black male, about 5- feet- 8 inches tall, wearing a black security uniform. ( steve ) there's been a big spike in anti-muslim incidents according to the group "cair." it says the number of incidents in 2016

jumped by 57-percent compared to 2015. the number of hate crimes also jumped. cair says those rose by 44-percent during the same period. you may recall a number of mosques receiving hate letters late last year... including one in san jose. cair stands for the "council on american-islamic relations." (pam) there has been fast reaction to the fact that texas has a new law ... banning sanctuary cities... (steve ) catherine heenan is here - with details on what the american civil liberties union is saying today... (catherine) the aclu has responded - by issuing a warning about traveling to texas... the texas governor signed the bill yesterday... it allows officers to ask people about their immigration status during routine stops. they can ask anyone who's under arrest - or even detained. the aclu is warning travelers that the law might violate their constitutional rights if they're stopped by police. republicans reject

the argument that the law will lead to racial profiling..sayin g it's needed to keep criminals off the streets... the controversy is far from over. the aclu is also pledging to fight this in court. monday - the texas attorney general took the unusual step of asking a federal judge to pre-emptively declare the law constitutional. steve and pam? (pam) verde mesa drive in danville has been blocked off all day... after a tree fell on a electrical pole there... causing about 500- residents to lose power this morning. p-g-&-e crews have been out there trying to restore power and clean up the mess. it was a massive tree as you can see in the video here. a portion of verde mesa drive is still completely blocked to drivers. officials are asking residents to avoid the area. let's take a look outside right now for the current conditions in the bay area... (pam) chief meteorologist

brittney shipp joins us now with the forecast. .mostly sunny and warm conditions will persist through the day. cooling trend begins on wednesday as onshore flow and the marine influence increases. a cold front will then enter the north bay with a slight chance of rain showers on thursday, cooling temperatures there. continued breezy and unseasonably cool conditions are likely friday and into the upcoming weekend. (pam) up next... a pivotal

ruling in the aaron hernandez case. why the former football star's murder conviction .... is being tossed out by a judge. and take a look at this. stunning video of a high school brawl... and what one student is accused of doing to another right in front of huge crowd.

more people than ever are making the move to nissan. ♪ because of rogue, the best selling suv in america. ♪ titan, with america's best truck warranty. ♪ and the most advanced safety features on altima and other best selling models. ♪ that's why we're america's fastest-growing auto brand. get 0% financing for up to 72 months on 11 models. ♪ a massachusetts

judge has thrown out the murder conviction of disgraced former n-f-l player aaron hernandez... the decision is because of a legal technicality..... and there is already talk of appealing the ruling. catherine heenan is here with the latest.. (catherine) this isn't because anyone is arguing that hernandez was innocent.... his conviction was thrown out because of a longstanding massachusetts law... hernandez killed himself in prison last month.the law says that a conviction is not final until a court has decided the merits of a defendant's appeal....and he died before that could happen. the judge has now erased his conviction in a 2013 murder - when he was prosecuted inthe shooting death of odin lloyd. judge susan garsh: the court has no choice but to abate the proceedings of by vacating hernandez's convictions and dismissing the charges against him and his appeal. ursula ward odin lloyd's mother in our book he's guilty and he's always going to be guilty. tonight - prosecutors say they'll appeal

the ruling that erases the 2013 conviction.the bristol county d-a says the legal principle of "abatement" is antiquated and should be changed. prosecutors had argued unsuccessfully that the conviction should stand - becausehernandez made a deliberate choice to apparently take his own life before his appeal. steve and pam? (steve) a student... body slammed in the locker room and left unconscious. where this happened and the scary revelation about the crowd that saw it happen.(pam) the giants are already hurting... and now comes another big blow. sports director gary radnich with how long the team is going to be without its closer.(steve) plus we are going indepth in the sierra lamar murder trial. we will look at what's next in the case through the eyes of criminal defense

attorney.

you're going to be hanging out in here. so if you need anything, text me. do you play? ♪ ♪ use the chase mobile app to send money in just a tap, to friends at more banks then ever before. you got next? chase. helping you master what's now and what's next. here in san jose the verdict

is in. guilty on all counts. the jury in the long running sierra lamar murder case has found the defendant, 26 year old antolin garcia torres, guilty in the march 2012 kidnap and murder of 15 year old sierra lamar. the jury also convicting garcia torres of the attacks and attempted carjacking of three women in 2009. the case will now enter

the penalty phase in which the jury must decide whether to sentence garcia torres to the death penalty or to life in prison. in san jose rob fladeboe kron 4 news (kerman) "in santa rosa, students at santa rosa city college are upset because they weren't immediately notified about a sexual predator arrested on campus. police found out about daniel lee after they received a report of him acting unusual in one of his classes. police

followed up and found out lee wasn't who he claimed to be. he was on the run wanted in orange county since october for "in santa rosa, students at santa rosa city college are upset because they weren't immediately notified about a sexual predator arrested on campus. police found out about daniel lee after they received a report of him acting unusual in one of his classes. police followed up and found out lee wasn't who he claimed to be. he was on the run wanted in orange county since october for failing to register as a sex offender. his past offenses include indecent exposure, child molestation, attempted lewd acts on a child under fourteen and assault with intent to commit rape. lee was arrested outside of a class monday morning. he had been attending classes for nearly a semester. in santa rosa, lydia pantazes, kron4

news." investigators here at the contra costa county sheriff's office in martinez announce the arrest of dr. rajesh singla, of the john muir health group, for allegedly sexually assaulting a female patient at his treat blvd office in walnut creek

conditions will persist through the day. cooling trend begins on wednesday as onshore flow and the marine influence increases. a cold front will then enter the north bay with a slight chance of rain showers on thursday, cooling temperatures there. continued breezy and unseasonably cool conditions are likely friday and into the upcoming weekend. (steve) .mostly sunny and warm conditions will persist through the day. cooling trend begins on wednesday as onshore flow and the marine influence increases. a cold front will then enter the north bay with a slight chance of rain showers on thursday, cooling temperatures there. continued breezy and cool conditions are likely friday and upcoming weekend. weekend. upcoming weekend.

(pam)tonight we continue to follow breaking news out of washington where president trump has fired the director of the f-b-i.(steve)the white house says its decision came after the recommendation by the attorney general jeff sessions to remove comey from his job.kron4's washington correspondent mark meredith has the late breaking details.

president trump fired f-b-i director james comey in a letter sent late monday. in a statement emailed to reporters the president said quote:""the fbi is one of our nation's most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement," the announcement comes just hours after white house press secretary sean spicer appeared to defend comey. reporter: "does the president still have confidence, full confidence, in fbi director sean spicer: "i have no reason to believe -- i haven't asked him. so i don't -- i have not asked the president time we spoke in the letter president following the n of attorney general jeff sessions. sessions and argued comey mishandled last summer's investigation clinton emails. reaction is pouring in, including on the senate floor where illinois senator dick durbin says continue its investigation into russian the 2016 presidential election. "xxxxx" comey was appointed by (steve) we bring you people behaving badly every night... but this might take it to a whole new level. a

violent brawl... caught on video... and what happened to one of the students.to one of the what happened video... and caught on brawl... a violent level.whole new take it t [ birds chirping ]

[ inhales, exhales ] [ announcer ] cigarettes are not just dangerous when they're smoked. [ rat squeaking ] they're dangerous long after. cigarette butts are toxic. they release chemicals that poison our water... and harm wildlife. and millions... are polluting our environment. [ sniffing ] [ seagulls squawking ] ( steve ) a high school

fight is caught on camera and at least one student could face serious charges.( pam ) what is even more disturbing about the video... other students are heard egging on

the brutal beating. this fight took place inside the locker room at an atlanta area school. a 16-year-old boy is seen body slamming a 15-year-old boy on to the concrete not once... but twice. the 15-year-old was left unconscious. according to school officials, the two boys had fought before on campus... and that led to the 16-year-old being charged with battery. this second fight could lead to more criminal charges. in sports... the warriors talk about to so- called "boring' playoffs... while kevin durant and russell westbrook appear to be friendly again...... and the giants... some bad news before get better... gary has the giants update... and all the sports... coming up

the warriors just kept rolling last night

getting off to a 24-point lead weathering a utah jazz comeback then going on a late 3rd quarter run to take back control as they sweep the jazz for a golden state franchise-record 8th stright playoff winsteph curry led the way with 30 points draymond green had a triple-double klay thompson and kevin durant has 21 and 18 respectivelybut with the warriors and cavs mowing teams down in the playoffs with almost all double-digit wins many are calling these playoffs "boring" it was a sentiment ecoed by the tnt tevelvision crew last night and answered by draymond after the game(sot: tnt crew & draymond green)

"exactly why did we come in tonight?""to watch golden state adavance to the (barkley ssigns)...western conference final.""worst playoffs ever." "that's not the worst ever."

meanwhile kendrick perkins a former teammate of kevin durant and russell westbrook said last night on tnt he has helped get them back on speaking terms"i texted k.d.. the next day he sent me a text and was like, 'hey man, me and russ had a nice conversation last night. but the media don't even know nothing about it so i just let it be known that they're back on talking terms." nothing public has come out between durant and westbrook about this supposed "detant" perkins added that he wouldn't be surprised if durant eventuall went back to oklahome city to team up again

with westbrook draymond greenaslo had some fun with a jazz fan after the game coming over to sign the fan's signand when the fan turns the sign around it reads "draymond flop count"it had a tally of 6 draymod flops for the gameso draymond nbot afraid to laugh at himself especially when you've swept you first two playoff series

more bad news for an already struggling giants club. closer mark melancon has been placed on the 10-day disabled list....with a right forearm strain. the 32-year-old...was the team's pricey pickup from the offseason as he signed a 4-year, 62-million dollar contract. he is 6-for-10 on save opportunites this season... and has an era of 2-point-53. giants having tough timesin new york citybottom 1st mets go off on jeff samardjizaneil walker send on into left field it gets under eduardo nunez's glove 2 runners score walker into 3rd base scored a triple 2-0 mets bottom 2nd/ 4-0 metst.j. rivera doubles into the left- centerfield gap another run scores 5-0 mets(samardzija: 7 ip, 10 hits, 6 runs, 9 k's) right now: 6-1 mets in the 8th inning

(pam) snapchat is making some big changes. the new features that have just been unveiled. ( pam ) facing increasing

competition, snapchat is making some changes to its messaging app.( steve ) it wants to make sure you never miss a snap again. there is now an "infinity" feature that lets users keep photos for as long as they want. before the update, photos could be sent that would disappear after being viewed. a picture can still be deleted once a person closes the snap. there are a few other changes including a magic eraser to remove items from pictures, a video looping feature and an emoji doodle.

last weather and goodbye final look at the weather with chief meteorologist brittney shipp. a full hour

you're going to be hanging out in here. so if you need anything, text me. do you play? ♪ ♪ use the chase mobile app to send money in just a tap, to friends at more banks then ever before.

you got next? chase. helping you master what's now and what's next. "the insider," tracking the biggest stories making news today. number one, "american idol" is officially returning. >> are you in? >> i'm always going to be a part of "american idol." >> so, will the original judge dream team reunite? as we break down how abc closed the deal. >> they actually threw a little bit of shade at fox saying they took it off the air too soon. i'm with bonner bolten after he got busted. >> i'm so proud of myself. >> simone biles clap back goes viral. >> that is my true self. >> number three, why "big little lies" was one of nicole kidman's

most intense experiences. >> i would come home at night with bruises. plus, your "insider" bonus. celine's song that made her a household name. and is michael fassbender hotter than tom huddleston? why michael started a war of words. >> i just say something and it comes back to bite me in the ass. now, "the insider," tracking hollywood from the inside out. the worst kept secret in hollywood is a secret no more. tracking at number one, "american idol" is officially back, and moving into a new home, debbie. >> yes, it is, louie. so just how did abc outfox the rest? and will ryan seacrest and the original three judges return? we've got the inside details of "idol's" resurrection. >> abc is bringing "american idol" back. >> there was no mention of the big news today on "k