GUILTY: jury comes back with verdict in restaurant murder trial

A Yuma jury has found a man guilty of first-degree premeditated murder following the killing of another man that happened outside a local restaurant in April 2014.

Tuesday, after just two hours of deliberations, the jury came back with a guilty verdict for Modesto Cortes-Serrillo. The victim’s family was emotional during the verdict. They were crying and hugged each other outside of the courtroom.

Cortes-Serrillo was convicted of murdering Santiago Diaz.

The prosecution argued that the defendant had planned Diaz’ murder, after he found out that the victim was with his ex-wife. The defense argued that the murder was not planned, and that Cortes-Serrillo reacted out of anger when he saw the couple together at Lin’s Grand Buffet the day of the murder.

Cortes-Serrillo will be sentenced January 17, 2018.

More details on this verdict are coming up in today’s newscasts.