GUILTY CO - Daryl Ritz, 33-year veteran of CSFD, El Paso County, 16 May 2016

Surprise guilty plea in retired Colorado Springs firefighter's murder abruptly halts trial
A man accused of killing a retired Colorado Springs firefighter admitted his guilt Thursday, bringing his two-week murder trial to an abrupt end.

Abandoning his self-defense claim at the eleventh hour, Gustavo Torres-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, agreeing to the mandatory sentence of life without parole without waiting on the jury's verdict.

His about-face came on the day prosecutors expected to rest their case, and jury deliberations could have begun Friday.

After stepping into the courtroom amid reports of the impending guilty plea, District Attorney Dan May said in his 35 years as a prosecutor he couldn't recall a murder defendant suddenly deciding to plead guilty.
 

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