Man convicted of hurling daughter, 4, off California cliff

LOS ANGELES — A man who prosecutors say hurled his 4-year-old daughter off a 120-foot cliff by the Pacific Ocean nearly 15 years ago was convicted on Wednesday of murder, following a third trial in the case.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury found Cameron Brown, 53, guilty of first-degree murder after about a day and a half of deliberations, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.

“It’s a good day for justice,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum said in a written statement following the verdict.

Brown, a former baggage handler, faces a mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced in June, prosecutors said.

It marked the third time Brown had stood trial on murder charges in connection with his daughter Lauren’s death on Nov. 8, 2000. Two previous juries deadlocked, unable to reach verdicts.

Brown’s attorneys maintain that his daughter accidentally fell to her death in the upscale seaside community of Rancho Palos Verdes, near Los Angeles.

But prosecutors said at trial that Brown threw the girl over the edge out of anger at her mother and to avoid paying child support.