A Ramona man who was found guilty last year of setting up a “kill zone” and fatally shooting his girlfriend’s tenant was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years to life in prison, prosecutors said.

Michael Hughes, 75, was convicted by an El Cajon Superior Court jury in September of first-degree murder with personal use of a firearm causing death in the killing of Mario Velasquez Cardoso, 46, on Nov. 5, 2020, prosecutors said.

“This defendant carefully planned and carried out a deliberate act of murder that mercilessly ended the life of Mario Cardoso,” District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a statement.

Hughes’ attorney, Anna Yum, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Prosecutors said that Hughes had carefully planned out the killing after he learned his girlfriend, a landlord, was ha

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