JEFFERSON, Texas -- An East Texas jury Thursday afternoon found a man guilty of murdering his daughter's estranged boyfriend, concluding the shooting was not done in self-defense.
The Marion County jury deliberated more than two hours before convicting 49-year-old Troy Long in the slaying of Donte Mitchell, who was shot with a shotgun this past May during a confrontation at Long's home.
The penalty phase of the trial is next and begins at 9 a.m. Friday. The jury will decide Long's sentence.
Prosecutors said Long intended to kill the 24-year-old Mitchell. In a statement to Marion County investigators, Long said he "had to do something" because black people were always in his house, prosecutors said. Long is white and the victim was black.
The defense said Mitchell had threatened Long with a gun the night before the fatal shooting. Mitchell did not have a gun the night he was killed, the defense conceded, but Long feared he did.
Marion County sheriff's investigators said Mitchell had been at Long's house earlier and had taken a rifle from the house.
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