The verdict is in. Jurors have made a decision in 2008 killing trial.

After deliberating about 90 minutes, Bibb County jurors found Benjamin Finney guilty of murder in the 2008 shooting death of Gwendolyn Cole at her east Macon home.

Finney’s trial began Oct. 31 in Bibb County Superior Court. His sentencing is set for Wednesday morning.

In addition to the murder charge, jurors also found Finney guilty of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Charges still are pending against Marlon Jackson, 37, a second man charged with murder in the case.

Finney had declined a plea offer from prosecutors that would have allowed him to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a 20-year sentence, 12 of them in prison. As part of the deal, he’d receive credit for time he’s served behind bars since 2008.

After being convicted in the case, he faces a life sentence.

The plea offer was issued after wiretap evidence in the case was thrown out due to procedural issues.

After the jury’s verdict was announced, District Attorney David Cooke praised prosecutor Sandra Matson for her work on the case.

“Most prosecutors would have given up after we lost the wiretap, but ADA Matson’s dogged tenacity remained until she got justice for the family and the community,” he said.

Several family members from Cole’s family and Finney’s family attended the trial.

Evidence showed Finney, 39, and Cole’s son, Alfonso Rose Jr., became involved in a series of violent incidents that culminated in the men firing more than 70 shots from two assault rifles at her Bradstone Circle home Feb. 4, 2008. She died the next morning.

Witnesses testified Finney helped his girlfriend and another man buy three assault rifles in 2007. A convicted felon, he couldn’t legally buy guns.

Ballistic evidence linked the gun purchased by Finney’s girlfriend to half the shell casings recovered outside Cole’s house. The gun was recovered by police in east Macon in 2010 and also linked to a 2010 killing.

Cole’s son testified that Finney had threatened him, saying he knew where his mother lived.

During her closing argument to jurors, Finney’s lawyer, Pamela Bettis, questioned why law enforcement didn’t pursue leads pointing to other suspects and suggested they had “blinders on.”

Matson cautioned jurors not to get caught up in the “red herrings” mentioned by the defense.

While showing a photo of Cole, a 55-year-old widow, Matson played a recording of the sound of an assault rifle firing.

“That family will never be able to sit down to another Thanksgiving dinner and not see an empty chair,” she said. “That lady is gone. That mother, that grandmother will never tuck grandbabies in bed.”

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 4:56 PM with the headline "The verdict is in. Jurors have made a decision in 2008 killing trial.."