EL CAJON (CNS) - A 75-year-old man convicted of killing another man in Ramona over a rent-related dispute was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years to life in state prison.
Michael Allen Hughes was convicted by an El Cajon jury of first degree- murder for the 2020 shooting of Mario Velasquez Cardoso, who was a tenant at a home where Hughes' girlfriend was the landlord.
According to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, Hughes' girlfriend and Cardoso's family were engaged in a months-long feud, which led Hughes to kill the victim on the morning of Nov. 5, 2020.
The D.A.'s Office alleges Hughes "set a trap" by shutting a driveway gate at the house on Pine Street, which forced Cardoso, 46, to get out of his car to open the gate as he was leaving the residence to go to work.
Hughes then shot Cardoso from a "sniper position," according to the D.A.'s Office, which said Hughes took extensive measures to carry out the homicide without detection, including leaving his truck hidden nearby for a quick getaway and removing a surveillance camera near the house that would have captured the shooter.
The D.A.'s Office also said Hughes tried to blame the killing on "an innocent third party." Though Hughes was identified as a suspect early on, sufficient evidence for his arrest was not developed until after an investigation by sheriff's detectives who reviewed "tens of thousands of surveillance videos."
Hughes was arrested in September 2021.
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