Morristown Man Convicted in Wife’s Drowning Death

A New Jersey man accused of drowning his wife in a bathtub at their Morristown home three years ago has been convicted of murder.

Thirty-four-year-old Kleber Cordova, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, also was convicted Wednesday on charges of child endangerment, hindering apprehension and tampering with evidence in the death of his 26-year-old wife, Eliana Torres.

The jury returned its verdict after deliberating for less than three hours. Cordova could face nearly 60 years in prison when he's sentenced May 25.

Among the witnesses who testified was the couple's older daughter, who was 8 years old when her mother died. The girl said she was awakened by her mother's screams and saw her father holding her mother down in the bathtub.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)