LOS ANGELES - A former city fire captain was found guilty of second-degree murder for beating and choking a homeless woman who refused to have sex with him.

The conviction was announced Thursday in the case of David Del Toro, who now faces 15 years to life in prison.

He was acquitted of a first-degree murder charge, which would have required a finding that the killing was planned. It carried a potential sentence of 25 years to life.

Jurors deliberated for about two weeks but had to start over on Monday after two panelists were excused and replaced with alternates.

Del Toro, a 23-year Fire Department veteran, attacked Jennifer Flores in his Eagle Rock home on Aug. 16, 2006, prosecutors said.

Flores, 42, was a homeless acquaintance of the 54-year-old fire captain. He broke her nose, jaw and ribs and strangled her after Flores refused to have sex with him, then loaded her nude body into his pickup truck and dumped it on a street a mile (1.6 kilometers) away, prosecutors argued.

Investigators found Flores' blood in Del Toro's home and truck.

Del Toro testified that he never sought sex from the woman and didn't remember killing her.

"I don't believe I killed her ... I just didn't kill her," he testified.

Del Toro retired from the Fire Department following his arrest.

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