Chula Vista
A jury found a jail inmate guilty Wednesday of second-degree murder in the beating death of another prisoner in the South Bay jail in Chula Vista.
After deliberating one day, the San Diego Superior Court jury convicted Steve Edward Morrison, 39, of San Diego, in the May 7, 1989, death of Luis Jose Mena, 45.
Mena was attacked on April 14, 1989, and suffered brain damage and a skull fracture, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Evan Miller. Mena died three and a half weeks later in a hospital.
Miller said the motive for the attack was Morrison’s hatred of child molesters. Mena had been convicted of molestation in 1985 and was back in jail on a parole violation when he was killed.
Morrison was in jail at the time on a burglary charge and suspicion of violating parole, as he too has other felony convictions.
Miller said Morrison faces a maximum sentence of 20 years to life in state prison, if he gets extra time for having prior felony offenses.
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