From Andy Furillo:
A judge found Paso Deshawn Harrison guilty of second-degree murder today in the stabbing death last year of Laura Yvonne Steward outside a south Sacramento hospital.
Prosecutors had sought a first-degree conviction against the 32-year-old Harrison.
Steward, 31, was slain after driving Harrison, her ex-boyfriend and the mother of her toddler son, to Methodist Hospital. He was being treated for a broken foot he sustained while trying to kill himself in a car wreck four days before the July 8, 2007, homicide.
According to trial testimony, Harrison and Steward argued while parked in a car outside the hospital. Harrison stabbed her to death after first threatening to kill himself, he testified, with a 9-inch carving knife.
The victim's sister, Donita Steward-Wiley, said outside the courtroom that her family is going to "stay strong" and "make sure that (Harrison) stays where he needs to be" -- in prison and off the streets forever.
"He's a disgrace to the streets," Steward-Wiley said of the defendant.
Deputy District Attorney Noah Phillips said Harrison faces a 36 years-to-life term when Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael T. Garcia sentences him. The judge presided over the court trial without a jury.
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