By JAMIE OPPENHEIM
joppenheim@mercedsun-star.com
It wasn't a question of who killed 20-year-old Jacqueline Lua, but rather, a question of whether her death was premeditated or a crime of passion.
During closing arguments Friday morning, attorneys debated whether the jury should convict her boyfriend Luis Flores, also known as "Alex," of manslaughter or of first- or second-degree murder.
Jurors deliberated Friday afternoon and found Flores guilty of second-degree murder, a lesser crime than prosecutors had hoped for.
The District Attorney's Office had charged the 33-year-old Merced man with murder in the first-degree for cutting Lua's throat in November 2005.
Flores testified Thursday that he first met the victim in 2004. The two became a couple and had a rocky, intense relationship with a number of breakups throughout their courtship.
On Nov. 4, the night of the murder, Flores bought two 40-ounce bottles of Mickey's malt liquor, and the two drank in their apartment in the 2200 block of A Street, he told the jury.
At one point during the night, Flores, a former Winton Elementary School substitute teacher, said an argument erupted after Lua had asked him to buy more beer and he refused.
He told her no, stating that she was already drunk and that she should just go to sleep. Lua had a 0.18 percent blood alcohol level at the time of the crime.
That's when events spiraled downward.
According to John Garcia, Flores' attorney, the victim refused to go to sleep and instead began insulting Flores' virility, his penis and his ability to perform sexually.
Whatever she said made Flores snap, Garcia said. Flores grabbed a knife from the kitchen and used it to repeatedly cut Lua's throat.
Flores testified Thursday that he didn't recall grabbing the weapon or attacking Lua.
At the moment he was killing, the humiliation kept going in Flores' head, Garcia said.
There is a fine line between manslaughter and second-degree murder because they are products of a crime of passion, Garcia said, and in this case there was a quarrel and the heat of passion.
"The defendant was provoked, as a result, (he) acted rashly," Garcia said. "Sometimes some of us will do something that we will regret for the rest of of our lives, and that's what happened on that fateful night."
After killing Lua, Flores cut his own neck and wrist, trying to commit suicide.
Flores also wrote a note that read, "Jackie Lua, with me until death."
Deputy District Attorney Rob Carroll said he didn't buy Flores' story, and told the jury he thought Flores put some thought into Lua's murder because he believed Lua planned to leave Flores.
Carroll said that the letter was confirmation of the cold-blooded, calculated nature of the crime.
What Flores meant by the letter was, "You're not leaving me, you're going to die with me," Carroll said.
It took thought to go into the kitchen to grab a knife, Carroll said.
"Did he slam her in the chest? No," Carroll said. "Did he pick a specific spot and methodically cut away? Yes."
People get insulted all the time, but ordinary people don't react the way Flores did, Carroll said.
"Everyone of us has had something terrible said about us," Carroll added. "It doesn't give you the right to kill someone and have that reduced to manslaughter.
"Flores is guilty of first-degree murder -- the evidence is overwhelming," Carroll said.
Flores faces 16 years to life for the second-degree murder conviction the jurors leveled Friday afternoon. He will be sentenced by a judge May 24.
Reporter Danielle E. Gaines contributed to this story.
Reporter Jamie Oppenheim can be reached at (209) 385-2407 or joppenheim@mercedsun-star.com.
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