El Cajon

A 23-year-old man convicted of strangling his ex-girlfriend with a coat hanger was sentenced Friday to 26 years to life in state prison.

A $1,000 fine was also imposed on Mark Lugo of El Cajon, who was convicted of first-degree murder in December in the Nov. 16, 1987, slaying of Eydie Lopez, 24, also of El Cajon. Both had worked together at the Home for Guiding Hands, a Lakeside shelter for the mentally retarded.

The victim’s mother read a statement in court before El Cajon Superior Court Judge James Malkus imposed the sentence.

The victim was found strangled in her car in a dirt parking lot in El Cajon. Her neck had also been cut.

Lugo confessed to the murder on a tape played to the jury during the five-week trial. His attorney, John Mitchell, had unsuccessfully argued that the jury must disregard the interview because Lugo was tired at the time and had been interrogated by police for many hours.