Voluntary manslaughter for man charged with death that sparked 10 years of violence

Arnaldo "Nardo" Lopes was convicted on the charge today in the 1995 death of Bobby Mendes, which started 10 years of murder and violence in Boston's Cape Verdean community, the Suffolk County DA's office says. He could get up to 20 years.

Prosecutors had sought a more serious charge of second-degree murder; Lopes argued he knifed Mendes in self defense, then fled the country in fear of his life.