Escondido
A 23-year-old man was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder in the bludgeoning death of his girlfriend.
After five hours of deliberations, a San Diego Superior Court jury convicted Filomeno Huerta of Escondido in the Sept. 5 death of Silvia Flores, 23, also from Escondido.
Judge William Kennedy set sentencing for Feb. 8. Huerta could be sentenced to a maximum of 25 years to life in state prison.
Friends of the defendant testified at the trial that Huerta talked about the murder and even drove out to the site with one of them.
The victim was hit over the head with a broken concrete block and also stabbed. The body was found Sept. 16 in a drainage ditch near San Pasqual Road.
Huerta was arrested in mid-September in Kingsburg in central California.
He remains in jail without bail.
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