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 Prosecutors and witnesses to the April 23 crash have said Kevin Jones ran a red light while making an illegal left turn. The University of California Berkeley journalism student was driving Halberstam to an interview with football legend Y.A. Tittle when the fatal crash happened in Menlo Park, south of San Francisco.
Jones, 27, will receive a maximum sentence of 30 days in the sheriff's work program, Judge Mark Forcum said before convicting him. The judge said he would consider reducing that to "the five- to 10-day range" and community service.
Jones did not appear in San Mateo County Court when his defense lawyer entered the plea for him as part of a deal with prosecutors. He had previously pleaded not guilty, and had faced up to a year in county jail if convicted.
Jones' lawyer, Laurel Headley, declined to comment on the case outside court, but said Jones would likely appear in person for his sentencing, scheduled for Feb. 14.
Jones had volunteered to chauffeur Halberstam to the Tittle interview in response to an e-mail from the journalism school's alumni association saying the author was looking for a driver who would get $20 an hour and a one-on-one journalism lesson.
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 Investigators determined that Jones had a red light when he made an illegal left turn into the path of a car that had a green light. That car smashed into the passenger side of the vehicle where Halberstam was riding.
An autopsy showed Halberstam, who was wearing a seat belt, died almost instantly when a broken rib punctured his heart, authorities said. Jones suffered a small puncture in one lung.
Halberstam, the author of 21 nonfiction books, had been at work on a new one about the legendary 1958 NFL championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants.
The 73-year-old won the Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for his coverage of the Vietnam War, a subject he revisited in his 1972 best-selling book, "The Best and the Brightest." He went on to write 14 other best-sellers, including "The Breaks of the Game," "The Reckoning," and "The Powers That Be."
A lawyer for Halberstam's widow, Jean, has been doing research in preparation for a lawsuit that may name the university as a co-defendant.
[Associated
Press; By LISA LEFF]
Copyright 2007 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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