California man convicted of killing girlfriend’s 1-year-old son in fit of rage

Calif. man convicted of killing girlfriend’s son

LONG BEACH, Calif. — A jury has convicted a 23-year-old California man of killing his girlfriend’s 1-year-old son.

The Superior Court panel in Long Beach deliberated for an hour Tuesday before finding Anthony Hall Jr. guilty of assaulting and murdering Nathan Coleman.

Prosecutors say Hall killed the boy in a fit of rage while baby-sitting in Los Angeles, put the body in a trash bag and discarded it in a Long Beach trash bin in September 2008.

Hall had initially claimed the child was kidnapped, then he admitted hitting the boy. At trial he claimed the child’s mother murdered the boy and he only helped her cover it up.

Hall faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced March 15.