Update: Brockovich trial

 yields guilty verdict
LOS ANGELES (Launch) - A Ventura, Calif., jury has returned a guilty verdict in the case of a trio of men who tried to extort legal crusader Erin Brockovich-Ellis and her boss Ed Masry, both of whom were portrayed in the film "Erin Brockovich." In April of last year, attorney John Reiner, Brockovich's ex-boyfriend Jorg Halaby (the lovable biker played by Aaron Eckhart in the film), and Shawn Brown, one of Brockovich's ex-husbands, were nabbed by the FBI in a plot to extort some $310,000 from Brockovich and Masry. The trio had planned to tell the media that Brockovich was a bad mother and that she and her boss had had an affair, but would not float the fabricated story if a sum of money was paid. AP reports that the charges against Halaby and Brown were dropped, but that Reiner was found guilty Monday, convicted on two counts of attempted extortion and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, and faces up to four years in prison. Reiner is scheduled for sentencing on May 2.