Trista Ann Spicer, who said she killed her boyfriend in self-defense after months of abuse and concealed his body in what police described as a “makeshift tomb” in her San Bernardino backyard for eight years, was convicted of second-degree murder on Monday, Nov. 10.

Jurors also found true a sentencing enhancement that Spicer used a deadly weapon to kill 42-year-old Eric Mercado. In this case, the weapon was a cast-iron skillet.

Jurors also weighed potential verdicts of first-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and not guilty.

Second-degree murder is the intentional, unlawful killing of a person, but unlike first-degree murder, it is done without premeditation.

Spicer, now 46, faces a potential term of 16 years to life — 15 for the murder and one for the enhancement — when she is

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