A man accused of beating his girlfriend with a hammer last year in the parking lot of Sylvan Learning Centers in Woodlawn was convicted yesterday of attempted second-degree murder, assault and destruction of property.

Midway through his two-day trial, Terrence E. Lynch, 32, fired his attorney, David W. Clayton. But Baltimore County Circuit Judge Lawrence R. Daniels ordered that the trial continue and found Lynch guilty yesterday morning.

Witnesses said that the morning the attack occurred, Lynch drove his station wagon into the side of a Volkswagen Passat in the 3100 block of Timanus Lane. Deborah Sorillo, Lynch's girlfriend, was a passenger in the Passat, which was driven by her sister Stephanie Sorillo.

After hitting their car, Lynch got out, smashed the windshield of the Passat, then smashed the passenger window, according to witnesses. He dragged Deborah Sorillo out of the car and hit her repeatedly in the head and body with a hammer, leaving her lying behind the car.

Deborah Sorillo suffered a fractured skull, broken right hand and many lacerations from the attack.

Lynch will be sentenced in May.

Pub Date: 3/12/99