A former inmate who killed a man in a Pacific Beach bathroom in 2020 will be returning to state prison after a judge imposed 16 years to life term for second-degree murder.

Martin Alvarez Jr., 36, admitted he killed Michael Wagley, 39, on Aug. 16, 2020, in the lavatory at 700 Grand Ave. along the Pacific Beach boardwalk at 7:30 p.m.

Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dort said this week the guilty plea to second-degree murder calls for a sentence of 15 years to life plus one year consecutively for using a knife in the homicide.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Polly Shamoon imposed that sentence. Since Alvarez has been in custody since the incident, he was given credits of nearly three years in jail, which will be subtracted from his term.

Dort said there was “no communication” between the two men in the restroom before the incident. It appeared to be a random homicide, said the prosecutor.

Wagley was washing his hands at a sink when he was stabbed in the neck and then stabbed several more times, said Dort.

Alvarez was in prison after pleading guilty to grand theft in 2019 of a bicycle which was a “bait bike” that was the property of the city of San Diego that was placed there by police to deter a series of bicycle thefts, according to Deputy District Attorney Allen Brown.

He was sentenced to 32 months in prison, and he was released from prison 80 days early. Alvarez had failed to report to his post-release community supervision parole officer when this incident occurred.