October 16, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Joe Scott, Director of Communications
Sandi Gibbons, Public Information Officer
Jane Robison, News Secretary
(213) 974-3525

LONG BEACH – A Long Beach Superior Court jury deliberated 40 minutes today before convicting a former Long Beach high school teacher of the first-degree murder of his girlfriend, who had been one of his students, the District Attorney’s office announced.

Besides convicting 35-year-old Pedro Tepoz Leon of first-degree murder, the jury determined the defendant personally used a knife to fatally stab 19-year-old Mayra Mora-Lopez on Oct. 24, 2002.  The defendant faces a 26-year-to-life prison term.  Sentencing by trial Judge Gary J. Ferrari is scheduled for Nov. 19.

Deputy District Attorney Lesley Klein of the Long Beach office prosecuted the case, which lasted a week.

Leon, at the time of the murder a Spanish teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, fatally stabbed the victim at their Long Beach apartment on East First Street.  The victim graduated from Woodrow Wilson High in 2001.

The defendant was arrested on Highway 80 near Vacaville a few hours after the killing when he sought assistance for stab wounds.  He was admitted to a local hospital for treatment.

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