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A jury convicted a Brooklyn man on Friday of trying to abduct an 11-year-old girl on Mother's Day 2007 - rejecting the argument he was just strange, not sinister.

Bernard Mutterperl, 21, grabbed Xochil Garcia, covered her mouth when she screamed and walked her down the stairs of her Midwood apartment building.

He grimaced - and his mother burst into tears - when the jury found him guilty of attempted kidnapping and other charges that carry up to 15 years in prison.

"Travesty of justice, travesty of justice," defense lawyer Joyce David said. "There was no evidence here, just speculation."

Xochil's stepfather, Heriberto Rodriguez said he was "happy with the verdict, but I can't be too happy because a lot of people are still suffering. I can't imagine what his family is going through now."

Mutterperl's lawyer had argued his actions were inappropriate and awkward but not criminal.

But jurors who heard the girl's vivid testimony and Mutterperl's police statement about liking little girls took only three hours to convict.

"If the first thing you do when you see a child is grab her hand and say, 'Don't scream,' that's a little more than inappropriate," said one juror.

Xochil, who kept her cool and waited for the right moment to escape Mutterperl's grasp, bravely took the stand to tell jurors about what prosecutors said was "every parent's worst nightmare."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/06/20/2009-06-20_bernard_mutterperl_found_guilty_of_kidnapping_girl.html