SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A man who fatally shot both his parents in their Point Loma home the day after Thanksgiving in 2014 pleaded guilty Friday to a pair of first-degree murder charges.
Peter Haynes, 25, faces 100 years to life in state prison when he is sentenced June 9.
Haynes, who was set to go to trial next month, withdrew his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity in order to plead guilty to killing Dr. David Haynes and Lissa Haynes on Nov. 28, 2014.
The defendant admitted that he used a semiautomatic handgun to shoot his parents.
Judge Laura Halgren told Haynes that he would have to serve 25 years behind bars before being eligible to request a parole hearing.
The defendant shot his 61-year-old mother, Lissa, the morning after Thanksgiving, then ambushed his father when the 62-year-old emergency room physician came downstairs to check on his wife, according to evidence presented at a preliminary hearing last year.
Courtney Gant, who lives next door, testified she heard screaming, yelling and what sounded like gunshots at about 3 a.m.
The witness said she looked down into the victims' kitchen and saw someone walking, then heard a male voice say, "He shot her in the chest. I think she's dead."
Gant said she saw the silhouette of a man consistent with Peter Haynes standing outside a sliding glass door holding a gun.
She said she was on the phone with a 911 operator when she heard a man scream, then three to four more shots.
San Diego police Officer Bradford Green testified that he found Lissa Haynes' lifeless body and a wounded David Haynes after another officer kicked in the front door.
"He (David Haynes) said, `My son shot me,' " the officer testified.
When he asked the wounded man why his son shot him, David Haynes responded, "He's schizophrenic," according to Green.
David and Lissa Haynes both were pronounced dead at a hospital.
Officer Andrew Korenkov testified that an armed but confused Peter Haynes was arrested without incident some time after 6:30 a.m. near the crime scene.
Deputy Medical Examiner Steven Campman testified that Lissa Haynes was shot once in the chest and her husband was shot nine times.
Campman said David Haynes was probably shot once in the upper abdomen, then a number of times in the back. A shot to the victim's right side struck his spinal cord and would have rendered him paralyzed from the chest down, Campman said.
After David Haynes was shot, the phone line to the 911 operator remained open, with the victim seemingly writhing in pain before his moaning stopped.
A family member told authorities that David Haynes had an interest in guns, which he used to bond with his son.
Detective Anna Yankovich testified that an AR-15 rifle was found during a search of David Haynes' bedroom.
