An ex-con Thursday was convicted in a Birmingham kidnapping case. Manuel Towns was convicted of shoving Brittany Diggs into the trunk of her car in Avondale, and repeatedly threatened to rape and kill her, before she made a daring escape at a gas station. The escape, captured by a surveillance video camera, received national media coverage. The jury convicted Towns of all charges after two hours of deliberations. "I'm especially happy though for the victim, because the victim is the real hero," Jefferson County District Attorney Mike Anderton said. "This case could have turned out so much worse, had she not kept her cool." Because of previous felony convictions, Towns faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Sentencing is scheduled for June 11.