02-12-2010, 12:30 PM
28-year-old Tarzana woman was found guilty Thursday of a vicious attack on a bikini dancer last year in which she doused the woman with gasoline and set her on fire outside a Tarzana bar.
Rianne Theriault-Odom faces a possible life sentence for the guilty verdicts of one count each of aggravated mayhem and torture. The Los Angeles Superior Court jury found her not guilty of a third count, attempted murder.
"I'm satisfied that the jury listened to all the evidence and obviously deliberated thoroughly and held the defendant accountable," said prosecutor Marcus Musante, with the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. "All you can ask for is that justice be carried out."
The victim, Roberta Dos Santos Busby, sat in the Van Nuys courtroom with her mother and aunt and quietly listened as the verdict was read, while looking down and holding a tissue to her tear-stricken face. The Simi Valley woman spent five months in the hospital and underwent 30 operations since the Feb. 5, 2009 attack, and the burn scars were still strikingly visible on her legs and face as she sat in the courtroom.
The defendant listened to the verdict in silence, at times biting her lips.
Minutes before the jury entered the courtroom to read the verdict, Theriault-Odom's public defender, Lenny Jacobs, approached Busby and her mother and aunt to console them. She told Busby she had been courageous throughout the ordeal.
"You're incredible," Jacobs told Busby.
"I just want it over," Busby replied.
Jacobs, who was holding back her own tears and brought tissues to Busby's mother, would not comment to the media after the verdict.
![[Image: 20100211__C_DN12-DANCERMUG1+PC4Q1BJ_300.JPG]](http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site200/2010/0211/20100211__C_DN12-DANCERMUG1+PC4Q1BJ_300.JPG)
Rianne Theriault-Odom faces a possible life sentence for the guilty verdicts of one count each of aggravated mayhem and torture. The Los Angeles Superior Court jury found her not guilty of a third count, attempted murder.
"I'm satisfied that the jury listened to all the evidence and obviously deliberated thoroughly and held the defendant accountable," said prosecutor Marcus Musante, with the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. "All you can ask for is that justice be carried out."
The victim, Roberta Dos Santos Busby, sat in the Van Nuys courtroom with her mother and aunt and quietly listened as the verdict was read, while looking down and holding a tissue to her tear-stricken face. The Simi Valley woman spent five months in the hospital and underwent 30 operations since the Feb. 5, 2009 attack, and the burn scars were still strikingly visible on her legs and face as she sat in the courtroom.
The defendant listened to the verdict in silence, at times biting her lips.
Minutes before the jury entered the courtroom to read the verdict, Theriault-Odom's public defender, Lenny Jacobs, approached Busby and her mother and aunt to console them. She told Busby she had been courageous throughout the ordeal.
"You're incredible," Jacobs told Busby.
"I just want it over," Busby replied.
Jacobs, who was holding back her own tears and brought tissues to Busby's mother, would not comment to the media after the verdict.