ROSEBURG, OR (AP) -
A Southern Oregon judge took 10 minutes Friday to find a teenager guilty of raping and murdering a 5-year-old girl.
Dustin Michael Wallace had waived a jury trial on charges he killed Sahara Dwight of Roseburg in July 2010.
He didn't deny attacking her but said he didn't mean to kill her. The cause of death was a form of asphyxia, such as suffocation or strangulation.
The Roseburg News-Review reported (http://bit.ly/MKYXgM ) that Judge Randy Garrison handed down the verdict shortly after closing arguments.
Wallace faces a life sentence. The judge could include the possibility of parole after 30 years.
Wallace is younger than 18, so he doesn't face the death penalty.
He is from Hugo, Okla. In 2010 he was visiting his father, who was living with the girl's mother.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
