VISTA, Calif. -- A man tortured and killed a young mother when she surprised him during a burglary of her Vista home, a prosecutor said Monday, but a defense attorney said a neighbor was responsible for the killing.

In his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza told a jury that the evidence was overwhelming that Derlyn Ray Threats killed 24-year-old Carolyn Neville on the morning of Sept. 1, 2005.

Threats, 28, will face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder and special circumstances of murder during a robbery or burglary, and murder by torture.

The day Neville was killed started out with her dropping her 6-year-old son at school and returning home to do chores, Espinoza told the jury.

Because she had misplaced her house keys, the front door to the home was left open that morning, the prosecutor said.

Neville was doing laundry and had gone upstairs when she was attacked by Threats, Espinoza said.

"She wanted to get away. She wanted to live another day," the prosecutor told the jury.

The victim was pursued throughout her home, Espinoza said.

"And you know she was fighting for her life," he told the jury.

Though injured, Neville was able to get outside, but Threats pulled her back in the house, locked the door and continued the attack for 20 minutes, Espinoza said.

"He exacted revenge on her," the prosecutor said. "And it was violent. And it was bad. She still fought."

Once back inside, Threats got a pair of hedge shears from the garage and like "the worst of Hollywood horror films," drove the shears through the victim's head more than once, the prosecutor said.

"That's cold and that's calculated and that's first-degree murder," Espinoza said.

Neville had 70 separate wounds, including 47 to her head, face and neck, the prosecutor said. Most of the injuries happened while the victim was alive, a medical examiner testified.

Espinoza called the killing "sadistic."

"Just a level of horror (with) unspeakable acts," he said.

Thanks to quick work by sheriff's deputies, Threats was caught a short distance away, hunkered down by a nearby home, the prosecutor said.

"He realizes his proverbial goose is cooked," Espinoza told the jury. "He says, 'I have a hammer and a knife.'"

The prosecutor said deputies found a broke hammer handle with the head missing, a stun gun, a pair of shoes and a handkerchief with the victim's blood on it stuffed in the suspect's sweat pants.

When caught, Threats was wearing bloody socks and a second pair of blood socks -- thought to be used as gloves during the attack on Neville, was also found, Espinoza said.

The prosecutor said the victim's blood was splattered on Threats' clothing.

"That is damning, compelling evidence of guilt," Espinoza told the jury.

A serrated knife -- with Neville's blood on it -- was found in the path that Threats took to run from the victim's home, the prosecutor said.

Espinoza said neighbors had seen Threats earlier that morning casing the neighborhood looking for homes where he could steal video games.

The night before the killing, a friend said Threats was up all night playing video games, according to the prosecutor.

Once Threats killed Neville, he went back to loading video games into a suitcase he had taken from her laundry area, the prosecutor alleged.

In his closing argument, defense attorney James Weintre, told the jury that a neighbor named "Tony" was the real killer.

Threats -- a former Marine -- was a peaceful and non-violent person who couldn't have committed the murder. Weintre said.

There were "too many questions left unanswered and too many things that don't make sense" for Threats to be found guilty, his attorney said.

Weintre said someone else was seen and heard in the backyard of Neville's home after the murder and someone else besides Threats killed her.

Witnesses saw a man with a large frame in the backyard, a description that fits "Tony" and not Threats, Weintre said.

Witnesses also heard demands from a man with a deep voice, and Threats has a high voice, Weintre said.

The attorney said "Tony" killed the victim and left with the missing hammer head.

Weintre said Threats slammed the door behind "Tony," jumped out a window onto the roof and fell into the front yard.

The fact that Threats had blood on the back of his sweat clothes means "he had his back turned while Tony was attacking Miss Neville," Weintre told the jury.

The attorney said Threats had no motive to kill Neville and had no intent to kill her when he entered her house before she got home.

"Mr. Threats didn't do this act," Weintre said. "He didn't have the intent. He didn't even know her. Tony did the acts, not Mr. Threats."

Weintre said there was no evidence that Threats knew what Tony was going to do to the victim.

The attorney said his client got into a situation "he didn't expect and he panicked."

Espinoza said the defense tried to pin the murder on "Tony" because he is African-American, as is Threats.

Investigators determined that "Tony" was sleeping when Neville was attacked and killed, Espinoza said.