BURBANK HIGH SLAYER CONVICTED; JURY SAYS TEEN SANE IN UNPROVOKED STABBING OF STUDENT.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Staff Writer

A teen-ager fatally stabbed a Burbank High School student last summer and was sane when he committed the crime, a Pasadena Superior Court jury found Wednesday.

Jurors in Erik Favela's murder trial found him guilty shortly before lunch Wednesday, then heard testimony from psychiatrists with opposing viewpoints on whether the 18-year-old was insane when he twice stabbed Adam Smith, 17, on the school campus.

It took the eight women and four men 40 minutes to find Favela was sane and fully aware of his actions during the course of first-degree murder: a point that Deputy District Attorney Laura Foland-Priver argued throughout the case.

``He knew what he was doing,'' Foland-Priver said outside the court, adding that she was thrilled by the jury's decision.

Smith's relatives and friends smiled at the verdict and shed tears of relief.

But Favela showed no emotion. Dressed in a blue Los Angeles County Jail uniform, the teen-ager rested his chin on his hands as he did through most of the testimony.

Favela, a former John Burroughs student who was attending Burbank High's summer program, stabbed Smith in the stomach and heart, cutting his aorta, police said. The July 10 attack happened in the faculty parking lot soon after classes let out.

It is the only campus killing in the nearly 100-year history of the Burbank Unified School District.

Both Foland-Priver and defense attorney Barry Bernstein agree Favela was jealous of Smith and angry about his relationship with Favela's ex-girlfriend. Pointing out that the relationship between the girl and Smith was not a romantic one, Foland-Priver said there was no evidence that Favela's anger made him delusional.

Bernstein claimed Favela was delusional. He said Favela was attacked with a baseball bat in the summer of 1997, suffered a head injury and began experiencing chronic headaches and rage in response to pressure.

He defined Favela's unprovoked attack on Smith - an attack that continued after Smith walked away and refused to fight - as abnormal behavior.

``That's an explosion of rage. He didn't play . . . with a full deck of cards,'' Bernstein said.

Backing up Bernstein's argument was court-appointed psychiatrist Saul Niedorf, who testified Favela acted out in an uncontrollable rage because he has low self-esteem. After three interviews over one year, Niedorf found Favela suffers from delusional rage.

Court-appointed psychiatrist Kaushal Sharma, called by the prosecution, found Favela to be sane before, during and after he stabbed Smith, he told the court.

Sharma, who spent 45 minutes to an hour with Favela in May, said he believes Favela was capable of controlling himself but chose not to control his anger.

``(Favela) got rid of the knife, washed his hands and walked away from the scene. He must have known what he did was wrong. He was legally sane,'' Sharma said.

Bernstein challenged the opinion of Sharma, who admitted not knowing about Favela's head injury. Foland-Priver questioned Niedorf's finding that Favela was insane only during the commission of the crime.

Outside the courtroom, Bernstein shook his head in disappointment at the verdict and said he believes the jurors were unable to put aside the tragedy of the case and render a fair verdict. He will appeal, he said.

While neither of Smith's parents wished to comment, family friend Reata Vaughn, who described Smith as having been like a grandson to her, called the verdict fair and just.

Favela, who faces a possible sentence of 25 years to life for first-degree murder and an additional year for using a knife, is scheduled to be sentenced by Pasadena Superior Court Judge J. Michael Byrne on Oct. 1.