A man who allegedly stabbed his mother 15 times in their Clairemont home pleaded not guilty to murder at his arraignment Thursday.
Joseph Burks, 30, is accused in the death of his mother, Angela, a 58-year-old science teacher at Otay Ranch High School. A judge set bail at $1 million.
Burks, a well-known teacher in San Diego's South Bay, had worked at the school since it first opened, Sweetwater Union High School District officials said. She had been a teacher for 35 years.
Burks was found stabbed inside a home on Mt. Putman Road at 7:16 p.m. Monday evening, San Diego police (SDPD) detectives said. When they arrived, she was bleeding inside the house.
Her son called 911, saying he stabbed his mother after a fight, prosecutors said.
Police arrived to find the teacher dead inside their home, said Deputy District Attorney Makenzie Harvey.
"Very brutal, the number of stab wounds makes it particularly brutal," Harvey said. "That some one living with his mother would kill her in such a brutal way."
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If convicted, Burks faces 25 years to life in prison.
