SAN DIEGO -- An ex-con accused of beating and strangling his girlfriend in her North Park apartment last summer must stand trial on a murder charge, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Harold Dwayne Jones, 48, is accused in the death of 58-year-old Barbara Moore.

According to testimony presented during a three-hour preliminary hearing, Jones called 911 the morning of July 24.

San Diego police Officer John Lane testified that Jones was completely nude and covered in sweat when he answered the door of the apartment on Illinois Street.

An agitated and despondent Jones led the officer to a back bedroom, where Moore was lying naked on the floor and not breathing, Lane testified.

"I noticed that her face was extremely bruised," the officer said.

Lane said he and another officer performed CPR on the victim until paramedics arrived, then spoke to the defendant in another room.

The officer said Jones told him that he woke up to find Moore taking shallow breaths and decided to wipe her down with alcohol wipes.

Regarding the bruises, Jones said Moore had fallen in the shower about 2 1/2 weeks earlier, Lane testified. Jones also said he and Moore had been in a fight, the officer said.

Lane told Deputy District Attorney Patrick Ojeil that Jones had several scratches on his stomach and chest.

"I asked him how she (Moore) got two black eyes," the officer said. "He said they got in a fight."

Deputy Medical Examiner Christopher Swalwell testified that Moore died from brain injuries that led to cardiac arrest and from strangulation.

San Diego police Detective Brett Burkett testified Jones told him that he woke up at 4:30 a.m. and found Moore with her mouth open and "realized she was purple."

Jones said he listened for the woman's heartbeat and slapped her face, but got no response, Burkett testified.

The defendant said he wiped the woman down with ice for 20 minutes and tried CPR and at some point called 911, the detective testified.

When asked how Moore might have gotten her injuries, Jones said it might have been from a fall in the shower or a fall in the kitchen, Burkett testified.

The defendant also blamed Moore's cats, and said she took medications that made her groggy, according to the detective.

After a police interview, Jones was overheard in a holding cell saying there were no witnesses to Moore's death, that he loved his "wife," and that he would "never lay a hand on her again," the detective testified.

Defense attorney Paul Rodriguez unsuccessfully argued that Jones shouldn't be bound over for trial on the murder charge, saying there was no evidence that the defendant intended to kill the victim.

A possible explanation is a domestic violence dispute that went "really, really awry," Rodriguez told Judge John Thompson.

Jones -- who has been to prison twice -- has convictions for burglary and assault with a deadly weapon in 1990 and 1995, respectively, Ojeil said.

The defendant, who faces 55 years to life behind bars if convicted, will be back in court Dec. 3 for arraignment in Superior Court and to get a trial date.