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A Tucson man involved in a fatal car crash last August was convicted of manslaughter and a variety of other charges in Pima County Superior Court Friday.

Roman Alfonso Lopez-Valle, 27, is facing a minimum prison sentence of 10.5 years when sentenced by Judge Michael Cruikshank Aug. 26. The jury also convicted Lopez-Valle of attempted manslaughter, aggravated assault, criminal damage and leaving the scene of an accident.

No one knows why, but everyone agrees that on Aug. 27, 2007, Lopez-Valle and Reynaldo Ochoa, 41, were at Grant and Swan Roads when they exited separate vehicles and got into a fistfight.

Deputy Pima County Attorney Mark Diebolt told jurors that after the fight, Lopez-Valle jumped into his Ford F-150 pickup truck and sped after Ochoa, who was a passenger in Robert J. Bailey's Honda.

About one-quarter of a mile later, Diebolt said, Lopez-Valle rammed the back of the Honda at 60 mph, causing Bailey to lose control and crash into a brick wall.

Bailey, 40, was killed; Ochoa suffered life-threatening injuries, and Lopez-Valle made his way home with fully deployed air bags filling up the cab of his truck, Diebolt said.

When police tracked Lopez-Valle down five hours after the crash, his blood alcohol level was 0.113, Diebolt said. The legal limit in Arizona is 0.08.

Diebolt had sought first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder convictions for Lopez-Valle, but the jury agreed on the less serious charges after more than 10 hours of deliberations over three days.

Lopez-Valle took the stand Tuesday and told jurors the crash was an accident.

The carwash employee said he was on his way home from an Applebee's restaurant when he stopped for a red light at Swan and Grant.

All of a sudden, Lopez-Valle said he was punched in the face and the back of the head by a man he didn't know who was holding a beer.

He got out of his truck and exchanged punches with the stranger and then the stranger jumped into a Honda and sped off, Lopez-Valle said.

"I stood up and got into my car, and I pursued him," Lopez-Valle testified with the help of a Spanish-speaking interpreter. "I wanted to get something, the plates or to find out who had done this."

After he caught up with the Honda, Lopez-Valle said the driver suddenly braked, and he was unable to avoid hitting him.

Because he was afraid the people in the Honda had guns, Lopez-Valle said he drove home, had some vodka and took a shower.

"I was very, very nervous and I was still in shock," when the police arrived at his apartment, Lopez-Valle said.

Lopez-Valle admitted he told police he had "pushed" the Honda, but he attributed that to his poor English vocabulary.

"I don't have the vocabulary to use the right words," Lopez-Valle told his attorney, Thomas Hippert.

Lopez-Valle also told Diebolt his poor English caused him to tell police he didn't have a cell phone the night of the crash when he actually did.

"I thought they were asking if I had it in my hand," Lopez-Valle said, later acknowledging he never called 911.

Lopez-Valle told Diebolt he didn't see the Honda spin out of control because his airbags had deployed.

During Diebolt's cross-examination, Lopez-Valle admitted either lying to police or withholding information.

Lopez-Valle admitted he never told police he'd had some vodka after he got home; he lied about the number of beers he drank at the restaurant, and he lied about how fast he was driving.

Lopez-Valle insisted he told police he chased the Honda to get its license plate number, but acknowledged it wasn't in a transcribed copy of the interview.

Accident reconstruction experts testified there was no evidence to show either Bailey or Lopez-Valle braked that night, and witnesses testified they didn't see any brake lights, Diebolt said.

Because of the extent of Ochoa's injuries, he has no memory of what led up to the fistfight, Diebolt said.