After he was paralyzed from the chest down in a bicycle accident, Manny Rios did something no one thought he’d ever do — he walked during his graduation ceremony at a Southern California high school.
In his blue cap and gown, he stepped out of his wheelchair on May 29 with some help from a walker and his therapist and took slow steps up a ramp to applause, chants of “Manny! Manny!” and “You can do it!”
“He always said he was going to walk across the stage to get his diploma,” said his sister, Mirna Hennicke, 35. “I’ve seen him take steps, but I did not think he was actually going to make it all the way across the stage.
"I cheered him on. I was like, ‘Wow, he did it!’”
For the family, Rios' graduation from Sultana High School in Hesperia was a huge day commemorated in a YouTube video for all to see.
Family members never thought Rios would walk, talk or even eat again after he suffered from an injury while riding a bike four years ago that put him in a coma.
Despite the setback, Rios never wavered, telling his family: "I will walk across the stage to get my diploma."
“He really is my superhero,” Hennicke said. “... No words to describe what I felt, actually seeing him accomplish what he said he was going to do.”
The family is raising the $12,500 needed to get Rios a service dog to assist him in his daily routines. You can donate here. As of Monday, the family has raised $140.
Nearly a third of Los Angeles police pursuits end in traffic collisions, and two-thirds of those crashes result in injuries -- to suspects, officers, and to innocent bystanders, according to statistics compiled by the department.
College student Julio Reyes, 23, became the latest innocent victim of an allegedly reckless driver who refused to pull over for police Saturday in El Sereno.
Reyes was killed in a four-car collision that police said was triggered when Jose Arellano, 20, lost control of his vehicle while being pursued.
Initial reports were that Arellano had been seen driving recklessly before officers attempted to pull him over. On Monday, police declined to confirm that until the investigation is complete.
Reyes loved photography and was studying technique at East LA College. One of his photos, an evocative study of an outdoor mural, is on display in a hallway of the technology building on campus.
On Monday, his heartbroken parents showed a visitor a photograph of their son, but said they were still too grief-stricken to speak of their loss.
His death was the second time in a week that an innocent bystander was fatally struck by a driver being pursued by law enforcement.
On Thursday, a man crossing a street in Orange County died after he was struck by a car carrying suspected gang members trying to escape Santa Ana police. He was later identified as Andrew Scott Reisse, 33.
Throughout California last year, 45 people were killed during police pursuits, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Twenty-seven of them were in a fleeing vehicle, 18 were not.
As the state's largest city, Los Angeles had the most pursuits, though the number has dropped nearly in half since a decade ago, when the department revised its pursuit policy to limit when pursuits should be initiated or continued.
The 609 pursuits in 2003 had decreased to 346 in 2011, according to LAPD Lt. Neiman, a former commander of the Pursuit Review Unit. By department policy, every pursuit must be documented in a report by a patrol supervisors, and the Review Unit goes over every report.
Nearly a third of the 2011 pursuits had traffic collisions--116--and those resulted in injuries to 50 suspects, eight officers, and 31 uninvolved third-parties, Neiman said.
"People get hurt. Officers get hurt. We look at all to try to mitigate injuries," said Neiman.
In most cases, refusing to pull over for a traffic violation is not enough to warrant a pursuit, unless the violation is reckless driving that creates an ongoing threat to public safety, Neiman explained.
In dangerous pursuits, LAPD has a protocol for calling in air support to track the vehicle from the air, allowing patrol cars to back off. But not every pursuit lasts that long.
According to one account, the El Sereno pursuit was as short as a minute.
"It's up to the officers involved to constantly re-evaluate the scenario," said Neiman, and that may warrant backing off, even if air support is not available.
But if an imminent threat to the public is seen, officers will not yield.
"Our job is to protect public safety," Neiman said. "If there's a pursuit, you can be sure there's a good reason."
Law enforcement agencies in Illinois and some other states tend to have more restrictive pursuit polices than California, said Geoffrey P. Alpert, professor of Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina, and an authority on pursuits.
Alpert served as an adviser to then-Chief William Bratton when the LAPD revised its pursuit guidelines. Alpert called the 2003 revision a good first step, but believes LAPD needs to go further, as some other agencies have, and adopt a policy limiting pursuits only to felonies.
"We're not at that stage," Neiman said.
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Investigators have identified the father of a child left trapped inside his car seat after a highway accident.
California Highway Patrol officers identified 40-year-old Fabiani Arroyo as a person of interest in Sunday night's crash on southbound Interstate 5 near San Diego.
Officers say Arroyo's black Nissan Titan veered off the highway near Rosecrans Street and landed on its side on an embankment.
Arroyo's 4-year-old son was spotted by witnesses as partially ejected from the vehicle. The boy was hanging out of a window but still buckled in his car seat.
According to CHP officials, the driver took off running immediately following the crash, but then returned to the scene to unbuckle the child from the vehicle.
CHP Officer Juan Escobar said the child fell on his back and hit the concrete curb. Officials said the child fell approximately 10 feet.
The driver then got scared and took off running, according to CHP.
The boy was taken to Rady Children's Hospital with injuries from the collision and the fall, officials said Monday.
His mother has requested the hospital not release updates on her son's medical condition.
CHP officers are now looking for Arroyo as a person of interest in the investigation not only because he is believed to have been the driver who fled the scene but also because he may have caused his son additional injuries if he was the man who unbuckled the child after the crash.
Anyone with information regarding Arroyo or the crash can contact the California Highway Patrol at (619) 220-5492.
An employee licking a gargantuan stack of taco shells: It’s not exactly the image that Taco Bell wants to portray of behind-the-counter hygiene.
But it was a photo of exactly that that prompted an online uproar Monday and a response from the fast food chain after it was posted to Taco Bell’s Facebook page.
The photo was posted by an account registered to “Jj O'Brien Nolan.” The post said the picture was taken in Ridgecrest, Calif., a city of about 27,000 in Kern County, about 150 miles north of Los Angeles.
On Monday, a manager of the Ridgecrest Taco Bell told CNBC that “we’re currently dealing with it.”
The Taco Bell in Ridgecrest is across the street from China Lake Naval Weapons Center and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake.
On Facebook, the company had responded to the photo by saying it was “conducting an investigation and will be taking swift action against those involved.”
“We believe this is a prank and the food was not served to customers,” Taco Bell’s Facebook response said.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and team members, and we have strict food handling procedures and zero tolerance for any violations,” a company spokesman said in a statement emailed to CNBC. “When we learned of the situation we immediately contacted this restaurant's leadership and although we believe it is a prank and the food was not served to customers, we are conducting a full scale investigation and will be taking swift action against those involved.”
The photo, posted Sunday, gained attention Monday after the Consumerist, a blog affiliated with Consumer Reports, wrote about it.
There were hundreds of comments on the Taco Bell Facebook page.
"First of all, he's wearing a taco bell uniform," one comment read. "He is in taco bell, and he is licking bulk taco shells.. What are we supposed to think?"
Gang members are among those flocking to save a South Side Chicago hospital that claims it could be forced to close for lack of funds.
Rev. Phillip Cusic, an employee at Roseland Community Hospital, said he met with nearly 20 members of the Black Disciples Monday. The group reached out to Cusic saying they want to help save the hospital because they deserve a chance to be saved and they want their community to be saved.
"It's bad enough we're out here harming each other," said Don Dirk Acklin, co-founder of the Black Disciples. "But then for the hospital to close that can help people that is innocent and being harmed-- that's genocide."
Members of the Black Disciples vowed to join peace protests and publicly make their voices heard.
"We use the word gang and we use it in a derogatory fashion," said Black Disciples member Art Stringer. "We're founded on truth and the ability to uplift our community, but if we ain't got the funding to do it then we go to other means to do that, but the objective is still the same."
Cusic said he can't give an exact number of how many alleged gang members the hospital sees but said it serves "quite a few."
"They deserve a right to live," Cusic said.
Roseland Community Hospital received notice this week that it must begin moving patients within three days because of its increasing debt, officials said. The hospital reported a $2 million deficit at the end of the 2011 fiscal year.
Hospital officials said they are devastated by the moving notice and said they were expecting the state to repay them what they claim they are owed.
“I’ve seen this hospital do a lot for this community,” hospital employee Paulette Perry said. “I love my job.”
Community members, workers and union leaders protested the closure last week and rallied again Monday, saying Roseland is the only hospital within an eight-mile radius and is a lifeline to South Side residents.
“If there’s nothing here at all, period, then where are they going to go? Just lie in the street and die?" one protester said.
The Roseland Coalition, a community group, said closing the hospital would put nearly 50,000 people at risk and 600 employees could lose their jobs.
The hospital let go 60 workers two weeks ago due to the lack of funding and activists are calling on Gov. Pat Quinn to use emergency funds to save the center.
The hospital said they will stop accepting patients Wednesday and said Monday they are sending Quinn a bill once more stating they are owed $6 million from the last four years.
"It's election season," Bisop Tavis Grant of Rainbow Push said. "Do the right thing."
The governor's office said the State of Illinois does not owe Roseland the $6 million the hospital alleges and that the state has advanced all payments to Roseland for this fiscal year.
"The hospital and its board of directors have serious management issues that need to be addressed," Quinn's office said in a statement. "Roseland Hospital is in deep debt and they have mismanaged their resources into the situation they are in today."
The governor said he is concerned about Roseland's long-term viability and that top healthcare advisers from his office have met with them repeatedly over the past six weeks, including yesterday.
"We committed to work with the hospital and help them identify potential partners and available resources within the law to develop a plan for long-term sustainability," his office said in a statement. "Those discussions are ongoing. The hospital has never provided a plan or any information to move forward."
The coalition said recent closures of other area hospitals has led to a 40 percent increase in emergency room patients and that the hospital spends millions in charity care to help the uninsured.
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A Long Beach woman has filed a lawsuit after being hospitalized with hepatitis A, one of some 30 people infected in a multi-state outbreak linked to frozen berries sold at a major store chain.
Lynda Brackenridge, 51, told NBC4 that she ate the Townsend Farms organic antioxidant frozen fruit blend every morning. She bought the mix from Costco. Her lawsuit names both companies.
"There's never an excuse to have feces in food, and that's exactly what we have in this case," said her attorney, Ron Simon of Simon & Luke LLP, referring to the way the liver disease is typically spread.
At least six of the cases of the liver disease were in California. The virus was believed to be linked to Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend. Costco has removed the product from its shelves, according to the California Department of Public Health.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that Townsend Farms is recalling the berry blend, which is sold under the Townsend Farms label at Costco and under the Harris Teeter brand at those East Coast stores.
The recall came three days after the FDA and the federal Centers for Disease Control first announced a suspected link between the berries and the illnesses. At least 34 illnesses were reported in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and California.
Attorney Bill Gaar, representing Townsend Farms of Fairview, Ore., earlier told the Associated Press that investigators appeared to be focusing on imported pomegranate seeds in the product.
The department has recommended anyone with the product at their home should throw it away. Anyone who has consumed the fruit mix in the last 14 days should contact their doctor, said the agency's director, Dr. Ron Chapman.
Symptoms of hepatitis A include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, clay-colored bowel movements, joint pain and jaundice. Symptoms develop two to six weeks after consuming contaminated food or drink, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The potentially severe illness can last up to several months and can require hospitalization.
The illnesses have been reported since the end of April in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and California.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
A 10-year-old boy fought back against two robbers who tried to break into his family's home in Brooklyn Monday, grabbing a gun dropped by one of the suspects and firing a shot that scared them off, police said.
The robbers, one of whom was dressed in a FedEx uniform, entered the house on 80th Street in Canarsie at about 5:15 p.m., where nine people were home, and demanded cash, according to police.
When one of the suspects pointed a gun through a doorway, someone slammed the door on the suspect's arm, causing him to drop the gun.
The boy picked up the gun and fired a shot, but did not hit anyone. The other suspect also fired a shot, according to police, which also did not strike anyone.
The suspects then fled the home, police said.
No one was injured.
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In the final days of the legislative session, families who lost loved ones inside Sandy Hook Elementary are trying to persuade state lawmakers to vote for a bill which would block the release of crime scene photos.
"I am hopeful they will be able to work it out because as a parent this is already incredibly painful," said Nelba Marquez-Greene, whose 6-year-old daughter Ana died in the massacre.
The Greenes and other families were at the State Capitol on Tuesday.
The bill, which has been criticized for being put together in secret, is still being crafted. The legislation will not block 911 calls from being made public, but it will block crime scene photos.
"Primarily, we're trying to exclude the photographs of the victims from being disclosed to the public," said Sen. John McKinney, who represents Newtown. "I think right now we're not looking at 911 calls."
Sen. McKinney also indicated that the bill could also include all crimes, not just the mass shooting at Sandy Hook.
The families are concerned if the grisly photos of their loved ones are made public, they could wind up on the Internet.
"We deserve the right as parents to remember Ana as we wish to remember her, without those grisly images out there," Greene said.
Getting the support of fellow lawmakers has not been easy. Some have told NBC Connecticut that they won't vote for the bill because it erodes the Freedom of Information Law.
There are also concerns about the secretive process. The bill did not go through the normal public hearing process.
"I think everyone understands and sympathizes with the situation but there needs to be some public comment and debate," Colleen Murphy, FOI Commission Executive Director, said.
The state's FOI Commission said there are reasons why police records are made public.
"We want to make sure police response was appropriate, and we can judge for ourselves what happened," Murphy said.
The Greene family said they are satisfied with how police responded. They say the photos will only traumatize their family.
A male porn star convicted of knowingly exposing at least two co-stars to syphilis was sentenced to 30 days in jail Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's office.
Jesse Spencer, 42, pleaded no contest to exposing another to a communicable disease. The pornographic actor, whose industry name is "Mr. Marcus," was also sentenced to three years of probation and 15 days of community labor.
He had reportedly tested positive for the sexually transmitted disease days before exposing his fellow actors, according to the city attorney.
Spencer was arrested May 22 on an unrelated DUI case, authorities said.
On July 13, 2012, Spencer went through STD testing required in the porn industry. He received a shot of penicillin after testing positive for syphilis.
He still tested positive about a week later but altered a document to hide the positive syphilis test results, according to the city attorney's office.
He filmed sex scenes with two actresses on July 24 and July 26. The actresses filed a police report after a producer noticed signs of alteration on Spencer's STD-testing form, authorities said.
Neither of the actresses contracted the disease, according to the city attorney.
“The potential spread of syphilis and other communicable diseases is a serious threat to our entire community,” said City Attorney Carmen Trutanich in a prepared statement. “My office will continue to hold accountable those who place the health and welfare of others in danger in such a reckless and thoughtless manner.”
Syphilis is a bacterial infection that is relatively easy to treat in early stages but can, if left untreated for years, cause dementia, paralysis and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
As Mr. Marcus, Spencer has appeared in 951 titles dating back to 1994, when he debuted in "Butts of Steel," according to the Internet Movie Database. He went on to star in "The World's Luckiest Black Man" in 1996, in which he purportedly had sex with 100 different women.
Some of his more recent titles include "The Babysitter 5," "Father Figure" and "My Girlfriend's Mother 3."
Taco Bell announced that an employee seen licking a stack of taco shells at a Southern California restaurant in an image posted on Facebook will be fired.
The company announced on its web site Wednesday that the unidentified employee has been suspended, and the Ridgecrest Taco Bell franchisee is "in the process of terminating his employment." The co-worker photographer no longer works at the fast food location, according to the statement.
"We do not believe these employees harmed, or intended to harm, anyone," Taco Bell said in the statement. "But we deplore the impressions this has caused to our customers, fans, franchisees, and team members. The behavior is unacceptable for people working in a restaurant."
The photo, taken at a restaurant in Ridgecrest (map), about 150 miles north of Los Angeles, was posted Sunday. It generated a swift response from those who saw it on Facebook.
The shells were "absolutely not" served to customers, according to Taco Bell's statement.
The restaurant currently has an "A" rating from the Kern County Public Health Services Department, indicating "good food handling practices and overall food establishment maintenance and sanitation." They were intended to be used by employees as part of training in advance of a new product -- practice shells that were then discarded in the trash.
As for the photo, it was part of an "internal" contest in which employees were encouraged to submit photos of themselves enjoying their first taste of the new product, according to the statement.
"The contest had clear guidelines about what was acceptable and unacceptable," according to the Southern California-based company's statement. "This image was clearly unacceptable. It violated the rules and spirit of the contest, and the employees never submitted it. But an employee posted it on a personal social media page in violation of the franchisee's policies, and it emerged online in social media."
No details were provided regarding the new product.
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The man police said was behind two bank robberies in Connecticut and two bomb scares on Tuesday referred to himself as the “polite bandit” in hold-up notes, according to court records.
Police began investigating just before 2:30 p.m., when a hold-up alarm went off at First Niagara Bank, in Hamden, Conn., at 1248 Dixwell Ave. While responding to that call, a man matching the robber’s description was seen walking toward Webster Bank, at 5 Helen Street.
Police soon learned that that bank too was robbed and identified Robert Raymond, 67, of Hamden, as a suspect and took him into custody.
A bank teller at Webster Bank told police that “an older gentleman” walked up to the counter and handed her a note during the robbery.
“This is what I want you to do,” the note said, according to police, and it referenced a bank robbery.
It went on to say that the robber had a cell phone is in his pocket that controlled a bomb and told the teller not to activate alarms.
“Please give me any money you can,” the note said. It was signed “the polite bandit.”
The clerk handed over about $2,000 in cash and a dye pack. The robber took the bag and said “thank you,” the teller told police.
When police took Raymond into custody outside of Webster Bank, he indicated that there was a bomb in the bag he dropped during the arrest, police said.
Raymond also mentioned another device he planted at the Federal Courthouse on Orange Street in New Haven, according to police.
The bomb squad detonated the bomb and found a box marked “detonator” and “contains C4.” Inside was a cell phone, fertilizer and money stolen during a bank robbery, police said.
Raymond later told police that knew he was going to get caught, according to the incident report, and admitted to making a fake bomb in his basement.
He told investigators that his girlfriend duped him out of a large sum of money and he committed the robberies because he was desperate, police said.
During the investigation, police learned that Raymond and his girlfriend might have been staying at the America Best Value Inn in Branford, Conn. Branford Police, State Police and the FBI evacuated the inn, investigated and found no bomb-making materials.
Raymond was charged with first-degree robbery, second-degree larceny and first-degree breach of peace. He was held on $500,000 bond and is due in court on June 18.
Gov. Dannel Malloy signed a bill into law Wednesday that will block photos and videos investigators took at the Sandy Hook school shooting crime scene from being released to the public.
He signed the bill at the State Capitol, just hours after lawmakers passed it in a session that lasted into the early morning.
The bill has a wider effect in Connecticut and will block graphic images from all homicide cases in the state from being released.
Families who lost loved ones in the school shooting had been fighting to convince lawmakers to keep the images private, fearing that they’d be published on the Internet and available for everyone to see.
Nelba Marquez-Greene lost her 6-year-old daughter, Ana, in the school shooting and said she does not want the crime scene photos to be public.
“We deserve the right as parents to remember Ana as we want to remember her, without those grizzly photos out there,” Marquez-Greene said.
The legislation does allow 911 calls police received to be made public.
The debate came down to freedom of information versus privacy rights and lawmakers in both the state House and Senate approved the legislation around 1 a.m.
Lawmakers who voted in favor of the bill said it was the right thing to do for the families.
“We were able to take action and protect the privacy rights of parents and relatives who lost loved ones at that elementary school,” State Senate President Don Williams, a Democrat, said.
“You could never have closure to such an incident. This went a long way to the families who were so concerned about being hurt further (to) have some peace tonight and that’s a good thing,”
House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, said in a statement.
Some Democrats voted against the bill, saying it violates the freedom of information law.
There are also concerns about the secretive process. The bill did not go through the normal public hearing process.
"I think everyone understands and sympathizes with the situation but there needs to be some public comment and debate," Colleen Murphy, the executive director of the FOI Commission, said.
The state's FOI Commission said there are reasons why police records are made public.
"We want to make sure police response was appropriate, and we can judge for ourselves what happened," Murphy said.
Chicago hospitals saw more homicides and victims of gun violence this year than car crash victims, an unusual proportion compared to previous years, new data shows.
Over Memorial Day weekend, a historically busy day for accident trauma, Loyola University Medical Center officials say no one was killed in car accidents, but instead six people were killed and at least 17 others were wounded in gun violence.
Last year, Chicago had 516 homicides, the most the city has seen since 2008.
Data released Wednesday by Loyola shows trauma centers are filling up with more victims of gun violence across the city and the trauma is placing an extra burden on hospitals.
“A number of resources are being taken up by people that have gunshot wounds,” said Dr. Tom Esposito, director of the division of trauma and surgical critical care and burn at Loyola University Medical Center. “It puts a greater strain on our ability to care for other patients that are having heart attacks or strokes or asthma attacks.”
Esposito said the hospital staff is prepared to handle injuries of all sorts but that they are spending increasing amounts of time taking care of patients whose wounds could have been prevented.
“All of these things are in fact preventable and controllable,” Esposito said.
Esposito estimated that 80 percent of trauma victims arrive due to blunt trauma, which ranges from falls, car accidents and head injuries. He said the other 20 percent is made up of penetrating injuries like stabbings and gun shots, which he attributes to be mostly from violent incidents.
Loyola is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Illinois verified by the American College of Surgeons, and Esposito notes the economic impact violent injuries have is growing.
The hospital said the total costs for treating a gunshot victim can exceed $1 million, which includes charges for hospital services, supplies such as drugs, and hospital rooms and procedures.
“We’d like to see no money spent on injury care,” the hospital said in a press release.
“The cost of injury to an individual and their family is heartbreaking but the cost to public health is bank-breaking,” says Esposito, who has cared for trauma patients at Loyola for more than two decades.
The Chicago area, where Esposito is a trauma surgeon, continues to lead the country in gun violence, the hospital said.
Tropical Storm Andrea formed in the east-central Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, and tropical storm warnings were issued for parts of Florida's west coast.
At 6 p.m., the center of the Atlantic season's first named storm was located about 310 miles southwest of Tampa and 320 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
It was moving at 3 mph with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for the west coast of Florida from Boca Grande to Ochlocknee River. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Flagler Beach to Surf City, N.C.
The hurricane center said a northeastward motion at a faster forward speed is expected on Thursday and that should continue until Friday.
The center of the storm is expected to reach Florida's Big Bend on Thursday afternoon or evening. It will then move over southeastern Georgia and eastern South Carolina on Thursday night and Friday.
Meanwhile, in South Florida, light to moderate rain in Broward and south Palm Beach counties was expected Wednesday afternoon. The storm was not expected to directly impact South Florida, however scattered showers and occasional thunderstorms were possible.
"It could be any time this afternoon," said weather service meteorologist Chuck Caracozza.
High temperatures in South Florida are expected to reach the mid-80s. Temperatures will flirt with the 90s again by this weekend.
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Three former Marines tortured and killed a fellow Marine and his wife for money in a 2008 execution-style slaying in Southern California, jurors found Wednesday.
Newlyweds Marine Sgt. Jan Pietrzak and his wife Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak were found gagged, tied and shot in the head in their Riverside County home in October 2008.
Sgt. Pietrzak, a helicopter airframe mechanic at MCAS Miramar near San Diego, was found bloody and beaten. His wife's body was discovered naked. Officials say she had been sexually assaulted.
On Wednesday, two separate juries convicted three defendants of murder. Former private Kevin Cox, 25, was first to learn his fate, followed by the verdict read by a second jury convicting former Lance Cpl. Emrys John, 23, and former Lance Cpl. Tyrone Miller, 25.
John was convicted of pulling the trigger. Miller was found guilty of murder and sexually-assaulting Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak
A fourth suspect, former Lance Cpl. Kesaun Sykes of Fallbrook, had his case severed and is awaiting trial. Sykes was known as "Psycho" by fellow Marines.
Prosecutors said robbery was the motive for the crime. Jewelry, including the couple's wedding rings, and Pietrzak's dress uniform were found at the suspects' homes, authorities said.
Racial slurs were spray-painted in the house, and fires had been set in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence.
All three men worked with Sgt. Pietrzak at one time while stationed at Camp Pendleton.
"He was not the actual killer, he was not in my opinion a major participant obviously the jury disagreed with that assessment," Cox's attorney Ryan Markson said.
Markson hopes jurors will consider Cox's rank at the time of the murders when deliberating his punishment.
"Because it was three armed Marines, two of whom outranked him and telling him we need to knock on these people's door," he said.
Pietrzak, 24, who was born in Poland and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., joined the Marines in 2003 and served in Iraq from July 2005 to February 2006.
Relatives of the victims said Quiana, 26, was from San Bernardino and a 2005 graduate of San Diego State University. 
Family members of the victims hugged outside the Riverside County courthouse moments after the verdicts were read. They declined to make statements until after the sentencing phase begins Monday.
The couple met in San Diego through a mutual friend who also attended SDSU. She was studying to become a doctor.
Pietrzak served in Iraq and returned to San Diego in 2006.
