Man convicted for accosting Elie Wiesel in S.F.

updated 8:25 p.m. ET July 21, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - A jury in San Francisco on Monday convicted a 24-year-old man of accosting Holocaust survivor and scholar Elie Wiesel in a hotel elevator.

Jurors found Eric Hunt guilty of false imprisonment with a hate crime allegation. Hunt also was convicted of battery and elder abuse.

The 79-year-old Wiesel testified he thought Hunt was trying to kidnap him when he was forcefully pulled off an elevator Feb. 1, 2007.

Wiesel read comments allegedly written by Hunt calling the writer's accounts of the Holocaust "fictitious."

The jury dismissed charges of attempted kidnapping and stalking.

Hunt had pleaded not guilty to all the charges by reason of insanity. His lawyers say he faces up to three years in prison.

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