California man convicted of killing sailor who stopped to help on road

SAN DIEGO (KSWB) -- A man who gunned down a Navy sailor who stopped to assist a stranded motorist on a Logan Heights freeway ramp was convicted Friday of murder and other charges that will have him facing life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Following one day of jury deliberations, Edson Acuna, 26, was found guilty of killing 21-year-old Curtis Adams on Oct. 27, 2018, when Adams stopped to assist the occupants of a seemingly disabled vehicle on the connector ramp between southbound state Route 15 and northbound Interstate 5 about 2 a.m.

Prosecutors say Acuna and three others took part in burglarizing a vehicle parked outside a Mt. Hope home earlier that night and got into a shootout with one of the home's residents, resulting in at least one of the tires on Acuna's car being shot out.

Forced to pull over due to the flat tire, Acuna and the others saw Adams stop on the side of the freeway. Believing he was the homeowner from the shootout, Acuna shot Adams as the Navy man stepped out of his vehicle, a killing San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Melissa Vasel described as "nothing less than an execution."

Acuna is slated to be sentenced April 10 for convictions for first-degree murder, robbery, burglary, various firearm counts and a special-circumstance allegation of committing the murder in the commission of a burglary.