On the fifth day of their trial, they were found guilty by a jury of seven women and five men and remanded for sentence on April 24.
Courtroom security was stepped up for the verdicts, with three police officers joining four court security staff. Judge Geoff Rea advised the verdicts would be delivered "in silence" and warned anyone who disrupted proceedings would be arrested for contempt of court.
Judge Rea had also accepted a request from Ataria not to be taken into the court for the verdicts, although the reason was not explained.
The court was told Christchurch man Samuel Rourke Ross McCarthy, 35 at the time, was the occupant of the room, when Peterson knocked on the door,
When he opened the door, Ataria had burst in and there was a fight in which Mr McCarthy was struck with a pistol, and in which Mr McCarthy punched Ataria in the head, apparently breaking the bones in his hand.
Mr Walker asserted the four accused drove to the hotel with a plan to rob Mr McCarthy because there was likely to be drugs and cash in the room.
The plan had included carrying at least one pistol and an electronic shock gun, and using Peterson to knock at the door to gain entry. None of the accused gave evidence in court, but through lawyer Michael Bott it was conceded Ataria was involved in the fight, but only by "losing it" after being punched by Mr McCarthy.
The group had fled, Ataria being apprehended soon afterwards in the rafters of a pagola in a nearby Pandora Pond reserve.
Hayden Haywood was stopped in a vehicle at a police roadblock, but his father and Peterson were free for a fortnight before being apprehended when a vehicle was stopped by police on the Napier-Taupo highway.
A pistol was found at the Pandora Pond water's edge, and other items were found in the area.
Police found no evidence Mr McCarthy was a drugs dealer, although he conceded in evidence he had had a small amount of drugs for personal use.
Peterson and Patrick Haywood were represented by Scott Jefferson, and Hayden Haywood by Russell Fairbrother QC.