Relatives of Mark Becker and Ed Thomas say they will rely on their faith to help them move forward. Today, a jury in Butler County found the 24-year-old Becker guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Thomas – who was respected as a coach, teacher and community leader in the town of Parkersburg. Thomas’ son Aaron says the verdict won’t “bring closure” to the families.

“We do ask for continued prayers,” Aaron said at a press conference shortly after the jury’s verdict was read. “Our family is not over anything and the Becker family is not over anything. We are still going to deal with this daily as long as we live.” Aaron says his family takes comfort in the belief that his father is in “a better place.”

“He’s where he’s supposed to be and God is definitely watching over us and taking care of us,” Aaron said. “Hopefully, we can continue to have an impact and carry on that legacy he left us with.” Aaron Thomas works as Aplington-Parkersburg High School Athletic Director, his father’s old job.

Mark Becker, meanwhile, now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the chance for parole. His attorney claimed Becker was insane on the morning he shot Thomas in a makeshift weight training room near Aplington-Parkersburg High School. During the trial, jurors heard testimony about Becker’s belief that Thomas was the devil. Becker’s mother, Joan, also met with reporters following today’s verdict.

“God is with us. God is going to continue to give us strength to move forward and heal,” Becker said. Jurors were in their fifth day of deliberations when they informed the judge they reached a unanimous decision. Joan Becker says the last several years have been very difficult for her family as they tried to help Mark.

“Although Mark and we as his parents, attempted to go through all the proper channels to get Mark the mental health treatment he so desperately needed, the system failed miserably,” Joan said. “Our son would never have taken the life of another person in his sane mind. Ed Thomas was a victim of a victim.” Joan Becker held hands with her son, Scott, and her husband, Dave, as she addressed the media.

“Our sorrow runs very deep for the family of Ed Thomas, for our church family, for our communities and for our own families, but most of all for our son Mark who we love so very much,” Joan said. Aaron Thomas is hoping residents of Parkersburg can begin to live their lives without the presence of news reporters who have been a common sight in town since a tornado struck the area in late May 2008.

“We ask for our community’s sake, a chance to start to grieve and heal,” Thomas said. “We’ve had two years from the tornado and this tragedy…hopefully now, we can just be Parkersburg, a place without media and cameras, and go about our business without worrying about a microphone or somebody wanting a quote or an interview.” Becker will be sentenced at 10 a.m. April 14 in the Butler County Courthouse in Allison.

Two state prosecutors who successfully put together the case that saw Mark Becker convicted in the murder of Aplington-Parkersburg football coach Ed Thomas say it was tough waiting out today’s verdict. Becker’s defense said he was insane at the time of the shooting, but Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown argued that Becker knew what he was doing on the June day he shot Thomas to death.

Brown says they did not waiver when jurors initially voted and could not come to a verdict and then deliberations stretched for five days. Brown says they were not “arm chair quarterbacking” what they had done, as he says they had put on their best case. Brown says it was important to focus on the things that Becker did that showed he thought out his actions before and during the shooting.

Brown say he didn’t mention the insanity defense in the initial arguments or in his closing arguments at all because he says they wanted to focus on Becker’s state of mind on June 24th. He says whenever they got the chance they would rebut the insanity defense in their arguments and plug the facts of what Becker did into the defense arguments.

Becker says the insanity defense was something different, but they still had to prove Becker’s actions were planned out. “Obviously his state of mind was the central issue in the case, but it is in almost ever murder case, even if there is not an insanity defense,” Brown says. He says you have to prove things like premeditation and things of that nature to show the state of mind of the defendant, and he says whether it’s an insanity defense or not, it is central to the case.

Becker’s motive for shooting Thomas was not a focus of the case and fellow prosecutor Andrew Prosser says that made it tough for the jury. Prosser says he thinks juries want to know the motive and says Brown told the jury that is not something they had to prove, and says that made it more difficult for the jury. “And obviously this jury had to sort of try to balance the defendant’s mental illness against the legal standard of insanity, and I think they got it right,” Prosser says.

Brown says there was a concern about a hung jury. Brown says he and Prosser have never had a jury out this long and never had a jury deadlock to the point where they had to declare a mistrial. He says while they had not experienced it, their research showed a deadlocked jury was not unheard of. Both Brown and Scott said the best thing about the case was getting to know the Thomas family.