Monte Rio man sentenced for murdering partner

<p>A Monte Rio man convicted of murdering his partner with blows to the head with a heavy lamp was sentenced to 36 years to life in prison on Thursday.</p><p>Bret Matz, 47, testified on his own behalf during the July trial, telling jurors that he killed Robert Guess, 46, in self-defense during an three-hour, alcohol-fueled fight inside their hilltop home on Jan. 1.</p><p>The couple's eight-month relationship was marked by several instances of domestic violence, apparently from both men.</p><p>During a brief sentencing hearing Thursday, Matz tearfully said he loved Guess and misses him.</p><p>Matz was charged with first-degree murder, but jurors were allowed to choose among lesser charges including second-degree murder or manslaughter. The six-woman, six-man jury deliberated about eight hours over three days before determining he was guilty of second-degree murder. </p><p>It carries a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. But an old arson conviction on Matz's record counted as a “strike” under the state's Three Strikes law, doubling that portion of the sentence.</p><p>Judge Julie Conger added another five years for the arson as a prior prison conviction and one year for the use of a deadly weapon.</p><p>“There wasn't a lot of discretion,” said Matz's attorney, Jenny Andrews. “It was either 21 to life or 36 to life.”</p><p>In an emotional day on the witness stand during his trial, Matz testified that Guess had thrown a heavy stone at him and tried to crush him under a 500-year-old decorative abbey door before he grabbed a heavy table lamp and struck back.</p><p>He admitted striking Guess three times in the head with the 4 1/2-pound metal lamp, causing Guess to fall on their bed with lethal injuries. Matz said he suffered serious injuries in the fight, too, but a medical exam before he was booked into jail didn't find any major injuries.</p><p>Guess' body was discovered on the morning of Jan. 2, after a drunken Matz walked into town and told a shopkeeper he'd killed his partner. Several witnesses testified that Matz appeared inconsolable and suicidal.</p><p>Monte Rio residences and emergency workers testified that both men had tempers when they drank and that both occasionally had been seen with black eyes.</p><p>Last year, Matz was charged with stabbing Guess with a cake server after another argument. The case was dropped when Guess declined to pursue the case. Matz testified that Guess stabbed him with a fork during the same incident.</p>