San Diego

The mother of convicted killer David Lucas urged Thursday that the jury considering his fate spare his life.

Breaking down in tears on the witness stand, Patricia Katzenmaier of Santee testified as the last defense witness for her son in the penalty phase of his trial.

“I would like my son’s life spared. He is a good person,” Katzenmaier said. “Honest to God, my son is innocent. I know my son is innocent.”

“I love him very, very much,” she said tearfully.

The prosecution asked her no questions.

Final arguments may be presented Monday, and the jury could begin deliberations Tuesday on whether to recommend the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole.

Lucas, 34, of Spring Valley, was convicted June 21 by the same jury of three throat-slashing murders and one attempted murder.

He was found guilty of first-degree murder in the Nov. 20, 1984, death of University of San Diego student Anne Swanke, 22, of San Carlos, and the killings of Suzanne Jacobs, 31, and Colin Jacobs, 3, both of Normal Heights, on May 4, 1979.

The victim of the murder attempt, Jodie Santiago Robertson, 34, testified as the key prosecution witness. She testified that Lucas kidnaped her from an El Cajon restaurant June 8, 1984, choked her and cut her throat.