It took a Pima County jury just one hour to reject a Tucson man’s claims he killed another man in self-defense in November 2010.
Scott Mediz was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday.
Mediz, 33, will be sentenced to life in prison, with or without the possibility of parole, on Oct. 29.
Mediz was convicted of killing his girlfriend’s former boyfriend, Jerry Lewis, 30, in November 2010.
Deputy Pima County Attorney Lindsay St. John presented evidence Sara Golden and Mediz conspired to kill Lewis, who had taken a cab to the couple’s home near South Kino Parkway and East 36th Street on Nov. 21, 2010 because Golden told him she’d broken up with Mediz and she wanted him back.
Mediz brutally beat Lewis when he arrived. He later stuffed him into a Mazda hatchback, jurors were told. Lewis died of positional asphyxiation after Mediz got a flat tire and abandoned the car in a convenient store parking lot.
Golden lured Lewis to her home without Mediz’s knowledge knowing the two men would end up fighting, Assistant Pima County Public Defender Joel Feinman told jurors during opening statements. Lewis was armed with a box cutter and a bat when he arrived that morning and Mediz beat Lewis in self-defense, Feinman said.
During the trial, jurors heard several voice mail messages in which Golden said she wanted Lewis tortured and killed for molesting a family member.
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