George Gonzalez, comforts his wife, Rosa Gonzalez , Julia Rolon- Estrada's sister, as Jose Rolon, Rolon-Estrada's father, watches after the jury convicted Rolon-Estrada's killer Albert Estrada of second degree murder at the St. Lucie County Courthouse on Tuesday.

FORT PIERCE — A jury this morning convicted Albert Estrada on a lesser charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife, Julia Rolon-Estrada, who was found buried in their back yard.

Estrada, 43, of Port St. Lucie, could have faced the death penalty if the jury convicted him of first-degree murder.

Jurors had deliberated for more than nine hours Monday and announced they had reached a verdict immediately after they reconvened this morning.

Rolon-Estrada’s father, Jose Rolon, and her sister Rosa Gonzalez, said they were devatated by the verdict.

“It sucks. I really don’t know how I feel about it right now,” Gonzalez said. “I think I’ll know more how I feel tomorrow.”

Estrada faces up to life in prison when CIrcuit Judge Dan Vaughn sentences him Wednesday.

Jurors also convicted Estrada on a felony charge of tampering with evidence.  

Albert Estrada, center, sits moments after a jury convicted him of second degree murder for the killing of his wife, Julia Rolon-Estrada on Tuesday at the St. Lucie County Courthouse.

Friends and co-workers last saw Rolon-Estrada July 26, 2006, a day after they said she’d gathered some belongings and left the Port St. Lucie home she shared with Estrada.

After her disappearance Estrada told police his wife had left because he didn’t want to have any more children, but after her body was found days later he said she’d accidentally shot herself after first trying to shoot at him.

Estrada’s attorney Rusty Akins had told jurors from the start of the week-long trial that prosecutors had little evidence that Estrada had actually planned to shoot his wife.

“Our position was that it was manslaughter,” Akins saidafter the verdict. “Going into the case, I think the state thought they were going to prove classic premeditation, but the standard for that is actually pretty narrow.”

Assistant State Attorneys Steve Gosnell and Michael Linn had tried to cast Estrada as a cold-blooded murderer who watched is wife bleed to death after he shot at her five times, finally hitting her behind her right hip.

But Akins repeatedly appealed to jurors that Estrada was simply a man caught in a heated moment that rendered him incapable of reflective thought, an element necessary for a first-degree murder conviction.

In the end, jurors rejected the prosecutors’ theory, convicting Estrada on the lesser charge.

Gosnell said he respected the jury’s verdict but still thought there was evidence Estrada planned to kill his wife.

“It’s not like there was just one act,” Gosnell said. “There was a series of acts leading up to it, and then there were the five shots.”

Estrada’s family members are expected to testify at his sentencing Wednesday.

In the aftermath of Rolon-Estrada’s death, Estrada told investigators his wife was the only family he had, saying all his other close relatives were dead. He also told detectives he was in the armed forces and had served in Somalia and Kosovo. But police found no record of Estada ever having served in the military, and he later told a detective he’d only been in the army for 20 days.

Gosnell and Rolon-Estrada’s relatives said they hope Vaughn gives Estrada a life sentence. He faces a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison.

“If he gets a sentence of life, then justice will have been served,” Gosnell said.

Tags: Albert Estrada

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