Gutierrez was convicted on all three counts against her.

A jury found 25-year-old Paula Gutierrez guilty on Thursday of killing Tampa police officer Lois Marrero in 2001.

Now Marrero's family is fighting back. They plan on suing the city for what they call a disregard of officers' safety.

Marrero family attorney Richard Hirsch talked about the day Marrero was shot and killed while chasing Gutierrez’s boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus.

"The observer and others members of the flight crew went to lunch," said Hirsch. "There had been a birthday party."

That left only one police chopper pilot in the sky to relay information about suspects on the ground to other officers giving chase. In their complaint to the city, the attorneys say the City of Tampa was "reckless and had a willful disregard for the safety of its officers."

They say chopper pilots have to focus on flying, not observing, and that the absence of an observer in the chopper may have contributed to Marrero's death.

"Because there wasn't someone in the helicopter as an observer, Lois Marrero wasn't given that opportunity to appreciate that DeJesus was behind that car," Hirsch said. "She didn't know that. That's the reason she was ambushed."

Most law enforcement agencies don't have flight observer policies in place.

Marrero family attorneys are demanding compensation and policy changes inside the Tampa Police Department, including requiring observers to be present inside police choppers in critical situations, even though most law enforcement agencies across the country don’t have those policies in place.

Tampa police have launched a full investigation into flight observers, as well as radio traffic during the chase and standoff. A spokeswoman said the chopper observer issue has come up in the past, and in every situation observers are available, they are used.

Marrero family attorneys say they will file suit with the city before July 6 if policy changes are not made for flight observers.