By MARK DOUGLAS | News Channel 8
Published: November 09, 2011
Updated: November 09, 2011 - 1:11 PM
CLEARWATER --
A jury today convicted Patrick Evans of first-degree murder in the deaths of his estranged wife, Elizabeth, and her boyfriend, Jerry Taylor, both found naked and shot in the neck in the bedroom of her Gulfport townhome.
The jury deliberated about an hour and 20 minutes this morning before reaching its verdict.
The panel will return Thursday morning to consider whether to recommend death or life in prison for Evans. Judge Richard Luce will decide the sentence.
Friends and family of the victims were in the courtroom, some of them sobbing, as the verdict was read.
"My brother and Beth got to say what happened, and the jury heard it," said J.P. Taylor, Jerry Taylor's brother, speaking of a 911 call from the murder scene that was played during the trial.
"I'm just happy justice has been served," said Molly Rhoades, Elizabeth Evans' daughter, who had testified that a woman's voice on the 911 call was her mother's.
Added Julian Weingarten, Elizabeth Evans' father, "The system works."
Patrick Evans, 44, was a vice president for Jabil, the global electronics company based in St. Petersburg, and lived a lavish lifestyle at the time of the killings in December 2008.
The case has attracted the attention of two TV news magazines, CBS' 48 Hours and ABC's 20/20.
The jury didn't buy an alibi offered by Rodney Evans, Patrick Evans' brother, who testified that the two of them were cooking burgers miles away at the time of the slayings.
The fatal shots came from a .40-caliber Glock handgun gun owned by Patrick Evans, investigators said, basing their conclusion on shells recovered at the scene of the crime.
The murder weapon was never found.
Two gunshots and the voices of a woman and a man can be heard on the 911 call.
The woman is heard making reference to "Rick," the name Evans went by. The man's voice is heard saying, "sit on the bed."
mdouglas@wfla.com
(727) 815-1054
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