TOLEDO, Ohio -
A jury found Samuel Todd Williams guilty of capital murder Friday morning.
He now faces the death penalty in the brutal killings of a Springfield Township couple.
Beginning Monday the same jury will be back to decide whether Williams will face the death penalty.
It could be a long process and the University of Toledo law professor we spoke to said it's now up to the defense to convince the jury Williams should not be put to death.
Twenty-four-year-old Sam Williams left the courtroom in handcuffs after a jury of 12 found him guilty of two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of aggravated burglary. Soon he'll know whether he's heading for death row.
Greg Gilchrist, Asst. Professor, UT College of Law said, "Its very unique with death penalty cases because there are two phases to the trial."
The same jury will be back next week to hear much more from the defense and the prosecution.
Gilchrist says now, the pressure is on the defense as it tries to convince the jury Williams should not be put to death.
"So they'll present anything. It could be childhood, it could be being under duress it could be under the influence of substances it could be any number of things."
Friday's verdict was a relief for Lisa Straub and Johnny Clarke's family and friends.
Maytee Vasquez Clarke, Johnny's mother, was not in court because a judged banned her from the courthouse. But she says she hopes Lisa and Johnny's faces haunt Williams' until he takes his last dying breath.
"These kids did not die in vain. They were tortured viciously, monstrously, tortured to death and I see it in my mind, and that is not the way I want to remember my son and Lisa."
Now, the fate of Sam Williams is in the hands of a jury.
Cameo Pettaway, the other man tried in this murder case is a free
man. Yesterday the defense filed a motion for acquittal -- based on the
lack of evidence.Lucas County Judge James Bates ruled in favor of the
motion.
We asked gilchrist what that means for any future charges, and he says because Pettaway was acquitted he cannot be tried again.
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