A man who was convicted of killing a North Park teacher outside his home in 2021 had his sentencing delayed to Feb. 3 because he tested positive for COVID-19 while in jail.

It has been nearly 10 months since a jury convicted Jesse Milton Alvarez, 34, of first-degree murder in the Feb. 1, 2021 slaying of Mario Fierro, 37, who was shot six times at 7:10 a.m. He was found on the sidewalk of Kansas Street near Monroe Avenue.

The sheriff’s department could not produce Alvarez on Jan. 6 before San Diego Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein because he is in some type of medical isolation in jail.

Fierro taught at Cathedral Catholic High School where he met Amy Gembara, who broke up with Alvarez in 2019 after a five-year relationship. She was Alvarez’s first girlfriend and he became her stalker, causing her to move, and change locks and phone numbers.

Because the jury also found a special circumstance true that Alvarez committed the murder while lying in wait, he faces a likely sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Defense attorneys will try to persuade Goldstein not to impose that sentence.

His lawyers argued Alvarez believed the shooting was in self-defense, but the prosecutor argued it was premeditated because Alvarez looked up on his computer how to commit shootings. Fierro was shot four times in the head, once in the back and once in the arm.

After the shooting, Alvarez was diagnosed as having obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism after he repeatedly tried to communicate with his former girlfriend despite her pleas to stop.