By Jim Buchanan

A federal court jury decided Wednesday that Humberto Lopez Jr. knew that a seven-foot-long piece of metal in his utility shed was a cannon - and that it belonged to him.

So the jury found the 33-year-old anti-Castro militant guilty of possessing an unregistered Finnish-made 22-mm artillery piece in June 1973, along with four automatic rifles and submachine guns.

Lopez, who lost an eye and three fingers when a bomb he was handling exploded last January, sat quietly as the jury returned its verdict.

U.S. District Judge Joe Eaton delayed sentencing pending a probation office report. Lopez faces a maximum penalty of 50 years in jail and a $50,000 fine.

Lopez' father has admitted participation in the disruption of anti-war demonstrations at the May 1971 funeral of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover at Washington.

The younger Lopez' collection of arms was discovered June 29, 1973, when a fire broke out in the utility shed of his rented home at 460 W 42^nd Place in Hialeah.

Firemen first found the cannon leaning against a wall, then two rifles and a pair of machine guns on the floor.

When they came across boxes of ammunition, some of it already exploded by the fire, they withdrew and summoned the sheriff's Bomb Squad.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Northcutt told the jury that while other persons occupied the house with Lopez, "There is strong evidence the defendant knew everything there was in the shed."

The "everything" included a 45- and 50- caliber machine gun and two 7.62-mm automatic rifles, all of which the government claims were unregistered.

Lopez was disfigured in a Little Havana garage when a homemade bomb exploded as he and Luis Crespo attempted to hide it in a hollowed-out book for mailing to an unknown enemy.