UPDATED: Jurors Talk About Schmidt Guilty Verdict

***UPDATED at 10:04 P.M. on FEBRUARY 9th***

Four days after the trial started, a verdict Thursday night for 15-year-old Lacey Aaron Schmidt. He was convicted of killing 14-year-old Alana Calahan and found guilty on all counts.

Schmidt showed no emotion as he learned of the verdict.

It took the jury more than four hours to deliberate. They said they really didn't listen to the opening and closing arguments, they wanted to base their verdict completely on the evidence that was presented.

Lacy Aaron Schmidt sat in court Thursday watching and listening to the attorneys battle out his fate.

Coming to his defense: his attorney, Penelope Donkar.

"Just because his emotions weren't what you'd expect doesn't mean he was a cold blooded murderer."

For the prosecution, Assistant District Attorney, Natalie Pain.

"He walks up to Alana Calahan and shoots her right in the back of the head."

Nearly two hours of closing arguments from these attorneys. But that's not what made the jury reach its "Guilty" verdict.

The jurors we spoke with, like Derrek Blitch, say it was all about the evidence.

"I can't really worry about what his future is going to be because there is someone else who is not going to have a future at all."

They talked about what they found to be the most damning evidence against Schmidt.

Richard Iannacone described it graphically.

"Whenever he shot her and she was gasping for air and spitting up blood he didn't try to save her, he dragged her like a piece of trash."

They also said that the defense started the case arguing that Schmidt snapped, but then changed their defense by trying to show that the gun went off by accident.

But they say it wasn't an easy decision.

Some of the jurors said they changed their minds once deliberations started.

Deborah Burton said it was hard convicting a 15-year-old.

"It's really tragic, but I think it's Alana that's....sorry...this was all very hard."

The Schmidt family left the court house first in defeat. Alana Calahan's family left next. Both sides headed home, after a heartwrenching ordeal that started one year ago.

The defense waived the sentencing hearing today. It's expected to happen later this month. Lacy Aaron Scmidt could face life in prison.

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***UPDATED at 6:27 P.M. on FEBRUARY 9th***

Thursday was a long day in court, in Columbia County.

Closing statements in the murder trial of Harlem teen Lacy Aaron Schmidt took nearly 2 hours and it took the jury about 4 hours to come up with a verdict.

In the end, jurors sided with the prosecution.

In Assistant District Attorney Natalie Paine's closing argument, she described Schmidt dragging Alana Calahan: "She is gurgling her own blood, gasping for her last breath of life, and he does not care."

The jury had some pretty interesting things to say about how they came to his verdict. They say they looked strictly at the evidence and that the defense didn't really give them another option.

We will have more from the jurors during our 11:00 p.m. Thursday newcast.

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***UPDATED at 3:27 P.M. on FEBRUARY 9th***

WJBF News Channel 6 has learned that Lacy Aaron Schmidt has been found guilty of the death of his neighbor, Alana Calahn. Calahan was found dead in January of 2011.

Schmidt was found guilty on all counts: Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Crime, and Theft by Taking.

WJBF News Channel 6's Jillian Benfield will have more on the verdict during our Thursday evening newscasts.

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***POSTED at 10:36 A.M. on FEBRUARY 9th***

Shortly after 9:30 a.m., Thursday morning, both the defense and the prosecution wrapped up their closing statements in the murder trial of 15-year-old Lacy Aaron Schmidt.

The defense repeatedly told the jury that Schmidt was a kid and that's why he acted so strangely after Alana Calahan was killed. The defense originally opened the trial saying this was a case of voluntary manslaughter. Voluntary manslaughter is when one person kills another by sudden outburst, not by plan. However, Judge Michael Annis ruled hat there was no evidence showing manslaughter. So, the defense closed the case, by telling the jury that this shooting was an accident.

"If he was planning on something horrible, why would he have taken off his shoes?" public defender Penelope Donkar told the jury.

Donkar argued that Schmidt was following the Calahan's house rules, by taking his shoes off before entering the home...moments before Alana was killed. Donkar hit on why Schmidt lied to investigators. "He realized he killed a girl he loved and all he could think was to blame someone else...he's a 14-year-old kid...Aaron is a kid and his statement shows just that," Donkar said.

Donkar also said, in her closing argument, that Schmidt was beaten up and robbed the week before Alana was killed and that his guardian never reported it. Donkar called that lack of action neglect. She also argued that Schmidt had been neglected his whole life and that's why he loved the Calahan family so much...saying, that's why Schmidt never would have intended to hurt them. "It makes absolutely no sense that he would kill her," she said.

Donkar concluded her closing argument saying, "There's been no pre-meditation shown".

Prosecutor Natalie Paine started her closing argument by picking up a picture of Alana Calahan and said, "We're here because of this sweet face". Paine then picked up the gun (unloaded) that Schmidt allegedly shot Alana Calahan with and pulled the trigger. She argued that a school bus driver saw Scmidt walking from his house towards the Calahan's home with a hood over his head and the gun in his pocket "loaded and ready to go."

Paine also argued that Schmidt knew when Alana's sister Amanda would leave the Calahan home and knew that he had less than 4 minutes to murder Alana before Amanda came back. She also argued Alana told on Schmidt days before he killed her, getting him in trouble with Alana's mother Betty, and that's why Schmidt wanted to kill her.

Paine argued that Schmidt was "obsessed" with the Calahan family. His Facebook account name read, Aaron Calahan, not Aaron Schmidt. Paine argued that he was jealous of the family that Alana had and that Alana threatened him getting closer to her family.

Paine said, several times, that Schmidt has a "depraved and malignant heart". She described how Schmidt dragged Calahan's body, while Alana was still alive. "She is grasping for breath and he does not care...the truth is that he killed her, poor pitiful Alana Calahan, she will never go to high school...her father will never walk her down the aisle," Paine said.

Paine closed with, "This man is guilty of every single charge".

The jury was released to deliberate around 10:30 a.m.

Count on WJBF News Channel 6 to keep you informed on developments in this trial.