Baby Gabriel mom Elizabeth Johnson seeks release pending sentencing PHOENIX, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Baby Gabriel's mother wants out of jail and her lawyer is pushing for a probation-only sentence after a jury in Arizona declined to convict her of kidnapping. Elizabeth Johnson, 26, of Tempe has been held for three years since the December 2009 disappearance of her 8-month-old son Gabriel Johnson. Last week, a Maricopa County jury convicted Johnson of custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial interference but declined to convict her of kidnapping her child, KTVK-TV, Phoenix, reported Thursday. Johnson was locked in an acrimonious custody dispute with the boy's father and ran off with the child from their Arizona home, fleeing to Texas. Johnson called the tot's father, Logan McQueary, and said she had smothered the child and thrown him in a garbage bin as retaliation for McQueary cheating on her. Johnson then changed her story, saying she'd given the boy, who would be 3 now, to a San Antonio couple and that she had fabricated the story about killing the child to upset McQueary. Gabriel has never been found and Johnson has refused to identify the San Antonio couple she says took the child. Johnson faces up to nine years in prison, but could be let go on probation, defense attorney Marc Victor said. He is also asking a judge to drop the $1 million bond and release Johnson on her own recognizance pending her sentencing, the hearing for which has yet to be set.