LAKE FOREST

The attorney for a man accused of killing his stepfather in April conceded his client’s guilt as his trial started Monday, but he will argue that his client should not face first-degree murder charges.

Public Defender Don Ronaldson declined to comment on the case, but he told jurors that a trail of “heartbreak, alcohol abuse and despondency” led William Lorance, 34, to kill his stepfather by bashing in his head with a framing hammer.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Glazier said Lorance planned to kill his mother and stepfather after the couple kicked him out of their Lake Forest home.

Lorance broke into the house through a second-story window carrying a pick ax and a hammer from an Irvine construction site where he worked, Glazier said.

Lorance killed his stepfather, James Morgan, 62, while Lorance’s mother escaped out the front door, Glazier said.