COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Two Cobb County men face life in prison after 40 guilty verdicts Friday in their trial in a double killing.
Joshua Marchman and Josh Arnold were convicted of charges in connection with a bloody 2009 home invasion on Brass Trail in Austell.
Several people were shot, and two people were killed in the crime.
Hope Weatherspoon, the mother of one of the slain victims, left the courtroom with a smile on her face.
"I'm just happy now. My daughter can finally rest," Weatherspoon said.
Her daughter, Leiteisha Weatherspoon, was hanging out with friends when she got caught in the aftermath of the crime spree, police said.
Leiteisha Weatherspoon was shot and killed, and her body was left in a burning car that July evening.
Relatives of the other slain victim, Nicholas Garner, also left pleased.
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"Justice has been served for Leiteisha and Nick. Trust that," Aaron Garner, Nick's brother, said.
The verdict capped a strange, tension-filled two-week trial.
Trouble brewed throughout the testimony, and authorities called in extra security for the verdict Friday.
At one point, Judge James Bodiford even gave one observer an ultimatum: 20 days in jail or a permanent ban from the courtroom.
The man chose the ban and quickly left before the verdicts were returned.
In closing arguments Friday, defense lawyers tried to pin the crimes on a third suspect named Isiah Walker. He was not on trial because he killed himself during a police chase shortly after the crimes.
The jury didn't buy the defense claims that Walker was the killer and instead convicted Arnold and Marchman on all counts of murder, kidnapping and armed robbery.
They both now face life in prison when sentenced in May.
WSBTV
