A QUIET and introverted US teenager was convicted yesterday of murdering and mutilating the wife of a prominent Californian lawyer, in a case police first believed was linked to organised crime.

Instead, the family of Pamela Vitale now know beyond doubt that she was bludgeoned to death by Scott Dyleski, her troubled and deluded neighbour, in connection with his scheme to buy marijuana- growing equipment using stolen credit cards.

Dyleski, 17, a former Boy Scout who killed Mrs Vitale on October 15 last year, bowed his head and wept as he heard the jury’s verdict.

Because he was 16 when he carried out the crime he does not face the death penalty but will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Mrs Vitale, 52, was married to Daniel Horowitz, a well-known defence lawyer and legal television pundit whose client list has included drug dealers, killers and other serious criminals.

Mr Horowitz, 50, found his wife’s body at the entrance of the mobile home they shared while their “dream estate” near San Francisco was being built. Dyleski had carved an “H” into her back with a knife and had sliced open her stomach.

Peter DeCristofaro, a juror, said that the guilty verdict was unanimous, based largely on Dyleski’s footprint found on Mrs Vitale’s shoulder, and her DNA found on a ski mask, glove and shoes that belonged to the teenager.

Harold Jewett, the prosecutor, said that Dyleski might have killed Mrs Vitale mistakenly, believing that she was another neighbour.

Mr Jewett said that Dyleski had stolen credit card information belonging to his neighbours to buy marijuana- growing lights online.

Karen Schneider, another neighbour, uncovered the fraud and also accidently ran over Jazz, the Dyleski family’s dog, two weeks before the murder. Mr Jewett said that Dyleski could have mistaken Mrs Vitale for Mrs Schneider.

Additional evidence included a slip of paper on which a chilling “to do” list, in Dyleski’s handwriting, read: “Knock out/kidnap, question, keep captive to confirm PIN, dirty work, dispose of evidence [cut up and bury].”

Friends described Dyleski as a typical suburban boy who changed after his half-sister died in a car crash in 2002.

Jurors were shown macabre art work that reflected his obsession with death and violence.

Mr Jewett added that the “H” found on Mrs Vitale’s back resembled a symbol he used as a kind of signature.

Because Mr Horowitz was defending a high-profile murder suspect at the time of his wife’s death, speculation over her killer’s identity focused initially on people in that case and other cases he had handled. Mr Horowitz, a seasoned defence attorney, said: “I knew what the verdict would be. I could read it in the jurors.”

Mrs Vitale’s two adult children wept and hugged each other after the verdict.

“Today is just an incredible relief to know that my mother got justice,” Mario Vitale, her son, said after the trial.

Sentencing was set for September 26. Mrs Vitale’s husband became a household name in the US during the trial of Scott Peterson, a fertiliser salesman who was found guilty of murdering his pregnant wife.

Mr Horowitz worked as a television pundit for CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.

He also represented the former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Pavlo Lazarenko, who was sentenced last week to nine years in prison for money laundering.

Mrs Vitale, formerly a marketing executive, worked at Mr Horowitz’s law firm, managing databases.

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