Jurors in Michael Burton's murder trial spent a full day deliberating today in West Valley Superior Court, but failed to reached a verdict by the end of the day.

The jury of eight women and four men is set to continue deliberating Monday morning.

Prosecutors accuse Burton, 48, of murdering his wife, Otilia Burton, with a samurai sword in July 2006 in the couple's Rancho Cucamonga home. The couple was in the midst of a bitter divorce.

When he testified in his own defense this week, Burton, a former Pasadena firefighter, told jurors that his wife of 13 years attacked him with a Taser and stabbed him in the chest before he stabbed her with the sword.

He also said he blacked out for a portion of the incident, and cannot remember attacking his wife with the sword. Otilia Burton, 35, suffered 10 stab wounds.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Jurors began deliberations this afternoon in the trial of a Pasadena firefighter accused of murdering his wife with a samurai sword before trying to take his own life.

Following 11 days of testimony over four weeks, attorneys in Michael Burton's murder trial sparred over the facts of the case today during their closing arguments in West Valley Superior Court.

Deputy District Attorney Michele Daly told jurors that Burton, 48, lied in wait in the couple's Rancho Cucamonga home for his wife, with whom he was engaged in a bitter divorce, to return from a night out.

When Otilia Burton, 35, arrived home the morning of July 16, 2006, Michael Burton attacked her with a samurai sword, stabbing her 10 times, Daly said.

Daly dismissed Michael Burton's claims in his testimony Monday that he acted in self-defense. Burton, Daly said, "(is) playing games with us in terms of telling us exactly how it happened."

During his 90-minute closing argument, Michael Burton's defense attorney, Winston McKesson, told jurors that Otilia Burton first attacked her husband by trying to shock him with a Taser, throwing a knife at him, and stabbing him in the chest.

Michael Burton responded by defending himself with the sword against his wife's attack, McKesson said.

"And then he couldn't bear the shame and he tried to take his on life," McKesson said.

Burton slashed his left wrist and sliced his neck several times. He also suffered a shallow chest wound.

McKesson called on the jury to return with a "complete and total acquittal."

The jury of eight women and four men retired to deliberate at 3:30 p.m., and ended deliberations for the day at about 4:30, Daly said.

They are set to continue deliberating Thursday morning, Daly said.

Burton is charged with murder, but jurors have the option of convicting him of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter.

First- and second-degree murder carry life prison terms, while voluntary manslaughter carries a prison sentence of three years, six years or 11 years.

In his closing argument, McKesson attacked the credibility of several prosecution witnesses and detailed the evidence that he said supports Burton's self-defense claims.

McKesson accused one of Otilia Burton's friends and co-workers of lying on the witness stand Tuesday when she testified that the day prior to Otilia Burton's death, Otilia Burton told the co-worker that Michael Burton had threatened to kill her.

The co-worker, Dawnyell Varela, was in the audience in the packed courtroom today, and during his closing argument McKesson pointed at her several times.

"She hates (Burton)" and is not a neutral witness, McKesson told jurors.

McKesson also emphasized the testimony of David Posey, a defense-hired doctor who said he believes a stab wound on Burton's chest was likely not self-inflicted.

Posey testified that the position of the wound and its angle of entry in Burton's chest were inconsistent with a self-inflicted wound, McKesson told jurors.

Those observations and others by the doctor prove false claims from members a sheriff's department SWAT team that Burton was stabbing himself in the chest when they took him into custody, McKesson said.

Daly took aim at Posey's in her rebuttal to McKesson's closing argument -- accusing the doctor of dismissing evidence that supported prosecutors' claims and saying only what the defense wanted him to say.

"I think Dr. Posey was a whore -- garbage in, garbage out," Daly said.

Daly said that at the time of her death, Otilia Burton had been making plans for the future with her boyfriend, and had completed training to become a nurse.

"There was no reason for her to come in and start this fray. ... The one who had the motivation is the defendant," Daly said.

The prosecutor in Michael Burton's murder trial delivered a 40-minute closing argument this morning in West Valley Superior Court, urging jurors to find the Pasadena firefighter guilty of murdering his wife.

Deputy District Attorney Michele Daly told jurors that Burton, 48, lied in wait with a samurai sword for his estranged wife to arrive at the couple's Rancho Cucamonga home.

When Otilia Burton, 35, came home the morning of July 16, 2006, Burton murdered her by stabbing her repeatedly with a samurai sword, Daly said.

She dismissed Burton's claims during his testimony Monday that he was defending himself from his wife's attack. Burton, Daly told jurors, "(is) playing games with us in terms of telling us exactly how it happened."

Burton's defense attorney, Winston McKesson, is set to give his closing argument at 1 p.m. today, then Daly will have an opportunity to give a rebuttal. The jury will begin deliberations after that.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- The day before Michael Burton killed his wife with a samurai sword, Otilia Burton told a co-worker that her husband said he was going to kill her.

The co-worker, Dawnyell Varela, testified in Michael Burton's murder trial Tuesday that on July 15, 2006, Otilia Burton confided in her at the Coco's restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga where the women both worked as servers.

Otilia and Michael Burton had not shared a bed for more than a year, according to earlier testimony, since Michael Burton learned in April 2005 that his wife was having an affair.

The couple was in the midst of a bitter divorce, and Michael Burton had been sleeping on the living room couch in the couple's Rancho Cucamonga home.

But during the night of July 14, 2006, he climbed into Otilia Burton's bed and positioned himself next to her, according to Varela's account Tuesday of her conversation with Otilia Burton.

Otilia Burton, 35, told Varela that Michael Burton "put his hand around her neck, squeezed, and said, 'I'm going to kill you,'" Varela testified.

In the early morning of July 16, 2006, Michael Burton did kill his wife -- by stabbing her 11 times with a samurai sword. He then tried to commit suicide.

Burton, 48, took the witness stand Tuesday following Varela's testimony and denied ever climbing into his wife's bed following his discovery of her affair.

On Monday, Burton testified that he was defending himself from his wife the morning she died.

Otilia Burton attacked him with a Taser, and stabbed him in the chest with a knife, Michael Burton testified.

He also testified that he can't remember stabbing his wife, having temporarily blacked out during the incident.

Jurors are set to hear closing arguments today from the prosecutor and defense attorney. The jury is expected to begin deliberations this afternoon.

In addition to Otilia Burton's co-worker, jurors heard testimony on Tuesday -- the 11th day of testimony in Michael Burton's murder trial -- from a psychiatrist who had a session with Otilia Burton three days before her death.

Otilia Burton opened up about the problems in her marriage during the 50-minute session, the doctor, Stephen Wysocki, testified Tuesday.

"She told me she was afraid of him," Wysocki testified.

Otilia Burton told the doctor her husband was jealous because she was having an affair, Wysocki testified.

Prior to their testimony in front of the jury, Judge Raymond L. Haight III heard Varela and Wysocki's statements to determine which portions of their testimony would be admissible as evidence.

Wysocki testified at the earlier hearing that Otilia Burton said during the therapy session that her husband had threatened to kill her.

Haight ruled that the testimony about Michael Burton's alleged threat was inadmissible because it was too vague, and the doctor was instructed not to mention it during his testimony in front of the jury.

But the doctor, during his testimony before the jury, mentioned the alleged threat. That prompted Michael Burton's attorney, Winston McKesson, to move for a mistrial on the grounds that the doctor's mention of the alleged threat was "very, very prejudicial."

Haight denied McKesson's motion, and admonished the jury to disregard the doctor's testimony about Michael Burton's alleged threat.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Michael Burton took the witness stand in his own defense today, claiming that prior to killing his wife with a samurai sword in 2006, she attacked him with a Taser and stabbed him with a kitchen knife.

Burton, a former Pasadena firefighter, also testified that he blacked out during a portion of the incident, and has no memory of inflicting his wife's 11 stab wounds.

In two and a half hours on the witness stand today in West Valley Superior Court, Burton detailed the history of his 13-year marriage, and the July 16, 2006 incident at the couple's Rancho Cucamonga home that ended in Otilia Burton's death.

It was the tenth day of testimony in Burton's murder trial, and the most dramatic, with a packed courtroom on hand as Burton, 48, defended himself from prosecutors' allegations of murder.

Burton testified that he had been sleeping on the downstairs couch at the family's two-story home when his wife returned from a night out at about 1:30 a.m. on July 16.

The couple had been in the midst of a bitter divorce for about a year, since Burton learned his wife was having an affair, Burton testified.

He testified that he approached his wife to speak to her about her daughter, the family's oldest child. The girl had been away from home for about a week, Burton testified.

As the pair talked, Otilia Burton set down her purse and began digging through it, Burton said. She produced the small flashlight-sized Taser and started lunging at him with it, Burton testified.

"I'm done," Otilia Burton said, according to Michael Burton's testimony. "I'm through. It's over."

Burton wore a dark suit, gray dress shirt and dark gray tie Monday, and his demeanor was calm and precise during much of his testimony.

But during his account of the confrontation with his wife, Burton battled tears and his voice often cracked.

The pair grappled over the Taser and both fell over onto a couch, Burton testified.

He said Otilia Burton never shocked him with the Taser during the altercation, but she struck him in the ribs and stepped on his feet.

After a brief struggle over the Taser, Otilia Burton left the living room area and went to the kitchen. She reached into the drawer where the family kept kitchen knives, Michael Burton testified.

When he saw her reach for the drawer, Burton said he ran upstairs to the master bedroom and retrieved one of the two collectable samurai swords he stored under the bed.

"That was the only thing I could find to protect myself," Burton testified.

He said he waited for his wife to come upstairs to continue her attack. Burton said he also feared his wife's boyfriend, Matthew Huntoon, might be lurking in the area of the home with plans to aid Otilia Burton.

His wife didn't come upstairs, so Burton said he walked slowly down the staircase holding the sword, hoping to see whether his wife's boyfriend had entered the house.

As he neared the bottom of the staircase he said he saw his wife holding a kitchen knife.

"Otilia, what's the matter with you?" he said he told her. Without speaking, she threw the knife at him but missed, Burton testified.

She retrieved two more knives from the kitchen and walked toward Burton, Burton testified, but dropped one of the knives before she reached him.

With the remaining knife, Burton said his wife lunged at him and stabbed him in the chest, then tried to hack at his right hand, which held the samurai sword.

Michael Burton testified that his wife lunged at him a second time with the knife -- but it's then when his memory of the incident is temporarily lost.

His next memory, Burton testified, is waking up, lying on the floor, and seeing his 35-year-old wife lying on the floor nearby, with the blade of the samurai sword lodged in her body.

"The sword was stuck in her lower abdomen area," Burton testified.

Burton testified that he didn't realize he had stabbed his wife 11 times until last month, as he reviewed evidence with trial date approaching.

"I didn't want to hurt her," Burton testified, his voice cracking. "I just wanted to stop her from stabbing me. And I care about her despite the divorce."

In an interview following today's hearing, two of Otilia Burton's sisters said they believed their former brother-in-law lied on the witness stand.

"He's not telling the whole truth," said Claudia Villery. "... He remembers little details, but not the actual killing."

Villery and her sister, Lisset Mosley, said they don't believe their sister attacked Burton. They also said Otilia Burton told people she feared her husband would attack her.

Mosley said she doesn't believe Michael Burton is remorseful for Otilia Burton's death, despite his tears on the witness stand Monday.

"I think it might be guilt," Mosley said. "I don't think it's remorse."

In the hours after his wife died, Burton testified that he swallowed a bottle of pain pills in a suicide attempt.

"I just knew that everybody was going to be hurt" from Otilia Burton's death, he testified.

He drifted in and out of sleep but did not succumb to the pills. Determined to kill himself, he said he went to the kitchen and took a large knife out of the dishwasher.

He cut his left wrist, slashed his neck, and again dozed off to sleep. His said his next memory of the morning was a sheriff's department SWAT team entering his home, disarming him and lifting him onto a stretcher.

Burton's murder trial is set to continue Tuesday, with prosecutors possibly calling witnesses to rebut the defense portion of the trial, which ended Monday afternoon.

RIVERSIDE -- An Ontario man convicted of murdering a Pomona landscaper with a hatchet in 2004 was sentenced today to 27 years to life in state prison.

Mark Robert Peterson, 55, was sentenced in Riverside Superior Court after a judge rejected two motions from Peterson -- motions to withdraw his insanity plea and for a new trial.

Prosecutors accused Peterson of killing Victor Camarillo, 58, with a hatchet on April 15, 2004 as Camarillo trimmed trees behind a Wal-Mart at 2663 Canyon Springs Parkway in Riverside.

Peterson was linked to the crime in 2007 when cold-case testing of DNA found at the scene matched Peterson's DNA sample taken during a previous arrest, according to a Riverside Police Department news release.

The Ontario man pleaded guilty to the killing by reason of insanity, but a jury declared following a trial in July that Peterson was sane at the time of the crime.

This morning, Judge Paul E. Zellerbach rejected bids by Peterson to set aside his guilty plea and order a new trial, said Deputy Public Defender Douglas Miranda.

Zellerback then sentenced Peterson to 27 years to life in state prison, Miranda said.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A former strip-club manager convicted of soliciting sex with a 9-year-old girl during an undercover police sting was released from jail this week after serving the first 100 days of his 270-day jail sentence.

But Ward Ryan Welty's legal troubles are far from over.

The former manager of Tropical Lei in Upland now faces an extradition effort from authorities in Fremont County, Colorado, where the online police sting against Welty originated.

Welty, 36, has been charged with five felonies in the rural county 100 miles south of Denver, and potentially faces a life prison sentence if convicted.

His defense attorney, Roger Diamond, argues that Welty, of Rancho Cucamonga, shouldn't be extradited to Colorado to face charges there because he has already been convicted locally for solicitation.

The prosecution in Colorado violates that state's double-jeopardy laws, Diamond said.

But according to San Bernardino County prosecutors, the local judge who rules on Welty's extradition case -- a hearing now set for Aug. 12 -- is unlikely to consider double-jeopardy issues in making a decision.

Deputy District Attorney Jason Anderson said the purpose of an extradition hearing is to determine whether a state's hold on a person is valid -- and he said Colorado's is, because Welty has an active criminal case there and has failed to appear.

Anderson said Diamond's double-jeopardy argument is "very premature," and should be considered by a Colorado court after Welty's extradition.

Welty was arrested in June 2008 after he traveled to Fremont County allegedly expecting to meet a 29-year-old woman who said she was willing to involve her 9-year-old daughter in sex.

The woman was actually an undercover police detective who posed as the fictitious mother in a Yahoo.com chat room as part of a police sting.

When San Bernardino County sheriff's detectives were notified of Welty's Colorado arrest, they served search warrants on his Rancho Cucamonga apartment, Tropical Lei and other locations.

Detectives found $60,000 in steroids in Welty's apartment they allege he was selling, as well as three child pornography images on his computers.

Welty pleaded guilty in West Valley Superior Court in February to three felony charges related to the steroids, illegal images and sex solicitation.

He was sentenced to 270 days in jail and five years' probation, and will be required to register as a sex offender for life.

On Wednesday, a West Valley Superior Court judge ruled that Welty, having completed 100 days in jail, is now eligible to complete the balance of his sentence on weekends or through home confinement.

Welty was released from custody at 12:03 a.m. Thursday after posting a $50,000 bail bond for his extradition case, according to online sheriff's department records.

Welty's father, Waldon Randall Welty, is the owner of Manta Management, the parent company of Tropical Lei, the Flesh Club in San Bernardino, and the Hawaii Theatre in the City of Industry.

In prior news accounts of the Flesh Club, Ward Ryan Welty was identified alternately as the owner or manager of the club.

Diamond has said Welty has no current role in has father's club.

For more information on Welty's case, read the initial story on his arrest, as well as an archive of stories on the case.