VISTA —— Adrian George Camacho, the man who pumped 13 bullets into a rookie Oceanside policeman in June 2003, is guilty of first-degree murder, a jury decided Monday.

The jury's finding could land Camacho on California's death row.

The 30-year-old Camacho slumped his shoulders, slid his hands in front of him on the table and hung his head as Judge Joan Weber read the jury's verdict in front of a packed courtroom Monday afternoon.

Across the room from Camacho, Jamie Zeppetella —— the young widow of slain Officer Tony Zeppetella —— smiled softly as the judge read the verdict.

Moments later, Stacey Camacho —— who is Adrian Camacho's wife and the mother of their two children —— began to shake uncontrollably, red-faced as she clutched a tissue and cried.

After the courtroom cleared, Stacey Camacho began hyperventilating, and paramedics arrived with a stretcher. Her husband's attorneys later walked the shaken woman out of a side door and ushered her into her mother's waiting sport utility vehicle.

It took just under six hours of deliberations and a rehearing of testimony for the seven-woman, five-man jury to find Camacho guilty on all counts, including not only the murder, but also charges that Camacho had heroin for sale and was a felon in possession of a gun.

But most significant is Camacho's conviction of first-degree murder and the jury's additional findings of two special circumstances: first, that Camacho killed Zeppetella to avoid arrest, and second, that Zeppetella was a policeman.

Only a first-degree murder conviction, coupled with the special circumstances, would make Camacho eligible for the death penalty.

Camacho's attorneys had asked the jury to consider a conviction ranging from involuntary manslaughter to second-degree murder.

With Monday's first-degree murder verdict, the jury's job is not done. On Nov. 28, the panel will reconvene for about two days of testimony before they decide if they should recommend Camacho for the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A deadly shootout

Witnesses to the gunbattle said it looked like a routine traffic stop when Zeppetella pulled up behind Camacho's car in the jam-packed parking lot of Navy Federal Credit Union at Avenida de la Plata and College Boulevard in Oceanside.

The traffic stop quickly erupted into a shootout.

According to testimony, Camacho probably fired the first bullet into Zeppetella as the officer stood at Camacho's car window. Camacho got off about five shots from his fully loaded semiautomatic before Zeppetella could return fire, witnesses said.

Already bleeding to death, Zeppetella fell to the ground and fired back, striking Camacho in the leg as Camacho got out of the car.

Camacho pumped more bullets into Zeppetella, one of them striking his upper arm and severing the bone. Prosecutor David Rubin said that, from that point, Zeppetella was probably no longer able to shoot back.

Witnesses testified that Camacho emptied his gun as the mortally wounded Zeppetella tried to crawl for cover. Camacho then pistol-whipped Zeppetella and stole the officer's gun, firing the final shots into Zeppetella with Zeppetella's weapon.

The last four shots of the gunbattle can be heard on a 911 call made by a witness to the shooting, a woman who told police dispatchers that an officer had been shot and the gunman had sped off in the officer's patrol car. Squealing tires can also be heard on the 911 recording.

Camacho broke into and hid in his mother-in-law's upscale Oceanside home about a mile from the site of the shooting.

Inside the home, Camacho slit his wrists and scrawled apologetic messages on the bathroom tile in blood.

About four hours after the shooting, following a negotiation lasting about 10 minutes, police coaxed Camacho from the home.

Mental state core of case

During the three-week trial, prosecutor Rubin maintained that the surprise attack on Zeppetella was an ex-con's cold attempt to escape capture.

At the time of the gunbattle, Camacho had four felony convictions as an adult, including two for drugs, one for being a felon with a gun and one for evading police.

Camacho is also a twice-deported illegal immigrant, although he first entered the country as an infant and was raised in Oceanside. Before the shooting, Camacho had been told he faced up to 20 years in prison if found in the country again, according to court documents.

Jurors knew Camacho was a felon, but they were not told of Camacho's immigration status nor his history as an Oceanside gang member.

The defense admitted during the trial that Camacho was in fact the one who shot Zeppetella, but argued the long-time heroin addict was in the throes of a drug-fueled delirium when he pulled the trigger.

Camacho's blood, drawn six hours after the shootout, contained a mix of heroin, methamphetamine and the prescription anti-depressant Paxil.

Camacho's mental state at the time of the gunbattle became the core of the defense's case.

Three psychiatrists were called to testify. The defense hired a psychiatrist to evaluate Camacho and his actions at the time of the shooting; the prosecution did the same. The two doctors had conflicting diagnoses of Camacho.

But the jury also heard from psychiatrist Dennis Ordas, who treated Camacho for drug addiction and depression during the 13 months leading up to the parking lot shootout. Ordas was also the psychiatrist on duty in the Vista jail the morning after the gunbattle, and had a chance to see Camacho that day as well.

Ordas testified two weeks ago that Camacho at times seemed "highly motivated" to kick his long-time addiction to heroin, but that the longest Camacho stayed clean during his attempts at rehab was 10 days.

He also diagnosed Camacho with an anti-social personality disorder —— a finding more in line with the diagnosis of the psychiatrist hired by the prosecution.

It was Ordas' 90 minutes of testimony that the jury asked to rehear on Monday morning. Shortly thereafter, the panel reached its verdict.

"One step closer to healing"

After the verdict, Tony Zeppetella's widow declined to comment. Speaking on her behalf, attorney Greg Emerson —— who is representing Jamie Zeppetella as the plaintiff in a related civil suit —— called the verdict "one step closer to healing."

"There's some relief (for Jamie) in that Tony was trying to take this guy off the street, and now that's what's going to happen," Emerson said.

The verdict came two days before Jamie Zeppetella's birthday, and a month and a half after her late husband would have turned 30. It also came three weeks before their son turns 3 years old.

Tony Zeppetella's mother, reached by phone at her Paso Robles home Monday afternoon, said she immediately cried on hearing the news of the first-degree murder conviction for her son's killer.

"I was such a nervous wreck," Renate Zeppetella said of the wait for a verdict. She later added, "I still don't have my Tony back."

About three hours after the verdict, Jamie Zeppetella, with her and her late husband's young son by her side, placed two large bouquets of balloons at the black three-foot-tall monolith that serves as Tony Zeppetella's memorial, in the parking lot where he was shot.

One of the Mylar balloons read "Congratulations." The other read "You are my hero."

The widow also left a large vase of flowers. She kneeled as she wrote on the card she would tuck into the bouquet.

"You've always been my hero," she wrote. "We love you and miss you."

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-3517 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.