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Hours before he was set to go to trial on Tuesday, Manuel Prieto Arenas pleaded guilty to the 2007 murder of his girlfriend outside their Key Largo trailer.

Under the deal, worked out early Tuesday afternoon, Arenas plead guilty to second-degree murder, an offense carrying a sentence of 30 years to life. Had he lost at trial, Arenas, 48, faced the possibility of a first-degree murder conviction, which carries a mandatory life sentence.

Arenas gunned down Maria Elena Proenza, 39, early on the morning of July 6, 2007. Her body was retrieved from the curb-side spot on Key Largo's Hibiscus Lane where she fell.