Lakeside Man Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in Fatal Shooting of His Wife

A man who fatally shot his wife in the back during an argument in their Lakeside home pleaded guilty Monday to voluntary manslaughter with the use of a gun.

Andrew Richard Welch, 46, will be sentenced to 21 years in state prison at an Aug. 28 hearing in El Cajon.

Welch pleaded guilty as his trial on murder charges was set to get underway.

According to previous court testimony, text messages showed that Welch and his wife of one year, Tonya, had been arguing the night she died, Oct. 25, 2011.

The next day, Welch walked into the sheriff's substation in Santee, telling deputies that he and his 43-year-old wife had fought the night before and that he had hurt her "really bad," according to Deputy District Attorney Scott Pirrello.

Investigators went to the couple's home in the 11300 block of El Nopal and found the victim face down in a pool of blood, the prosecutor said.

–City News Service