BRIEFLY MAN FOUND GUILTY OF CHOPPING WIFE.

VENTURA - A San Fernando Valley man was convicted of killing his wife, chopping up the body and dumping body parts into the sea off Ventura County.

Alfonso Castillo, 38, was found guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday after a three-day trial.

``I would like to apologize for all this, that's all,'' Castillo said as Superior Court Judge Herbert Curtis III set a Sept. 25 sentencing date. Castillo faces 25 years to life in prison.

Curtis decided the case after Castillo waived his right to a jury trial. He ruled brain hemorrhages detected during an autopsy of the victim's severed head show that Castillo strangled her for several minutes, indicating the killing was premeditated.

Castillo was arrested Dec. 6 when a sheriff's deputy spotted him, soaked in blood, outside his van near Mugu Rock at 1:40 a.m. Investigation revealed blood in his van and garbage bags containing human flesh, according to court documents.

- Associated Press 

Former reporter gets light term

Former KNBC (Channel 4) helicopter news reporter Bob Pettee was sentenced Thursday in Los Angeles to two months in prison and four months house arrest for possession of illegally altered firearms.

U.S. District Judge Lourdes Baird said she was convinced that Pettee's crime was an aberration in his otherwise law-abiding life, and that a lenient sentence was appropriate.

The judge also found that Pettee did not deliberately attempt to skirt the law when he sold the guns to a friend for about $3,000 in cash.

The decorated combat pilot in the Vietnam War was convicted April 22 of two counts of unlawful transfer of a machine gun and one count of possession of an unregistered firearm.

Pettee wanted to sell the guns because he had financial problems, according to the government. His contract with KNBC had expired last September.

- City News Service

Boy hit, injured on Valley street

PACOIMA - An 11-year-old boy was seriously injured Thursday when he was hit by a vehicle on the 11600 block of Glamis Street.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said the boy was taken to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles by helicopter after the incident was reported at 4:08 p.m. He suffered a massive, exposed fracture to his lower left leg with possible arterial involvement.

Humphrey said the injury was not believed to be life-threatening.

The incident was under investigation, a Los Angeles police sergeant said.

- Daily News

Circuit blow kills power downtown

Power went out briefly at several downtown high rises Thursday after an electrical circuit blew, a city Department of Water and Power official said.

The outage reported at 3:26 p.m. affected 3,000 customers in 11 office buildings around the Civic Center and Bunker Hill, DWP's Gale Harris said.

By 5 p.m., service to all but one location, the Grand Promenade commercial building at 255 S. Grand Ave., was restored, Harris said.

Crews routed power around the damaged circuit, she said.

- City News Service

Assembly OKs ties to Armenia

The first major step toward the creation of a California trade office in Armenia took place this week as the Assembly voted 73-4 to pass a bill proposed by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena.

Out of about 7 million Armenians worldwide, 500,000 live in California, with the largest concentration in Glendale, where 70,000 Armenians live.

According to Scott, the trade office would help bolster California's export economy while helping Armenia and the surrounding region develop a newly adopted free market.

Armenia became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Armenian National Committee was pleased by the vote to create the new trade office.

- Daily News