LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Jefferson County circuit court jury finds Dejuan Hammond guilty in the 2009 death of Troya Sheckles. 

Jurors reached their decision about 8:30 p.m., after more than eight hours of deliberations. They also found Hammond guilty of intimidating a participant in a legal process and not guilty of providing a firearm to a juvenile.

In court, Hammond turned his head to see his family, smiled and nodded his head, WDRB's Jason Riley reported. Hammond told his family that he loves them as he left the courtroom and asked one family member, "What are you crying for?" 

"We're thrilled to get justice for Troya," prosecutor Elizabeth Jones Brown said after the verdict. Sheckles' family applauded her. Sheckles' cousin says the family is happy with the verdict. "Troya can now rest in peace." However, she declined to give her name. "They're not hunting me down," she said. 

Hammond's attorney, Ted Shouse, declined comment on the jury's decision.

Jurors return to court Friday morning to begin the sentencing phase of the trial, in which they will hear testimony and deliberate to recommend a sentence to the judge.

EARLIER: Jason Riley summarizes closing arguments presented Thursday morning.

Troya Sheckles had "reluctantly agreed to do her civic duty" and testify in a murder case against Lloyd Hammond in 2009 and "for that she died," gunned down while she sat in Shelby Park with a friend, a prosecutor said Thursday.

"It was an execution," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Elizabeth Jones Brown told a Jefferson Circuit Court jury. And, she said, it was orchestrated by Lloyd's older brother, Dejuan Hammond, who sent a juvenile into the park to kill Sheckles.

"Dejuan Hammond has to be held responsible for his decisions and actions," Jones Brown told a jury in her closing arguments of Hammond's fourth murder trial. The jury is currently deliberating the case.

But Ted Shouse, an attorney for Hammond, railed against prosecutors and police for more than an hour in his closing arguments, saying the investigation was botched from the beginning and throughout the last five years, a high-profile stain on police and prosecutors.

"This case is about damage control and tunnel vision," Shouse said, alleging lead Officer Roy Stalvey focused on Hammond from the beginning, ignoring other potential leads and suspects. "This was an extraordinarily unprofessional investigation."

Shouse said there is no physical evidence tying Hammond to the crime and witnesses called by prosecutors often changed their story or refused to testify. He said they were bullied and coerced by Stalvey and former Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Van De Rostyne, threatened into saying what the prosecution needed to prove its case.

Jones Brown acknowledged that "these are not the witnesses" prosecutors would choose, but they were the people Hammond hung around with and know what happened. The prosecution used statements some witnesses made to police when they changed their stories during the trial.

As for witnesses changing their stories when they were called to testify, Jones Brown said to jurors, "Wonder why?"

Jones Brown said witnesses told police the truth in the privacy and safety of the interview room at the Louisville Metro Police Department but "didn't want to come in here" in front of Hammond and "testify to that."

And she denied that Stalvey or Van De Rostyne threatened anybody, playing clips for jurors of two key witnesses calmly describing how Hammond sent Steven Pettway into the park to kill Sheckles and then disposed of the weapon immediately after.

Jones Brown said snippets of clips the defense played in which Stalvey is yelling, cursing and throwing his notebook while questioning witnesses were "taken out of context."

Previously, Bolin had reluctantly admitted to police that Hammond sent her into Shelby Park to look for a woman and report back to him shortly before Sheckles was killed. She has said she also overheard Hammond talking about the murder and sent her into the park after the shooting to see who was killed.

During this trial, however, Bolin gave Hammond an alibi and repeatedly said she couldn't recall her previous statements to police. She told prosecutors Hammond was with her at the mall shopping for shoes on the day Sheckles was murdered.

"It's not an easy job to give up your boyfriend on a murder case," Jones Brown said of Bolin. And Bolin only said she was "threatened" when she came into court to testify against Hammond, Jones Brown said.

Bolin's initial statement to police 2009, that she was at the mall with Hammond when Sheckles was murdered, wasn't turned over by prosecutors until earlier this year.

Shouse accused formed Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Van De Rostyne of intentionally not turning over the statement "because it was bad for the commonwealth."

"The things that have gone on in this case - undisclosed reports, missing evidence - don't happen in good cases," Shouse told the jury. "This is a bad case."

Van De Rostyne testified this week that he made a mistake in not turning over the summary but that it was not intentional.

And Jones Brown reiterated that while there was a mistake made, it was not relevant to the murder and jurors didn't need to focus on it.

The Commonwealth's Attorney's Office is currently conducting an internal investigation into Van De Rostyne's handling of the case, a fact Shouse told jurors they could use "to assess his credibility and motivation."

He added: "This whole case is about keeping the commonwealth's ship afloat."

Shouse says prosecutors are relying on the "where there's smoke, there's fire" argument. 

"This is how innocent people go to prison," Shouse said. "We do not guess people into the penitentiary."

During earlier testimony, it was revealed that one witness, Ike Kinnison, told police he saw both Hammond and Pettway after the murder and heard them discuss what happened. 

Pettway was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 55 years in prison last year. His case has been appealed.

Prosecutors have said Hammond sent Pettway to kill Sheckles because she had agreed to testify against Lloyd Hammond, who was facing murder charges in the June 2006 deaths of Terrell Cherry and William Sawyers, Sheckles' boyfriend.

When Sheckles didn't show up to testify against Lloyd Hammond, his case was dismissed. When Sheckles was found and brought into court, swearing to reappear, Hammond was re-indicted.

The Hammonds realized, Jones Brown said, that she was the "key to the whole case." She was murdered weeks later.

Jones Brown referred to Kinnison's statement that he heard Dejuan Hammond and Lloyd Hammond discussing the possibility of Sheckles testifying against Lloyd. Kinnison said Dejuan said, "I'll take care of it."

Kinnison denied all of this during his testimony during the trial, when he "gets to the courtroom and sits across from Hammond," Jones Brown said.

Jones Brown also referred to testimony from Don'Teze Hurt, Sheckles' former boyfriend, who told jurors that he was sitting with Sheckles in Shelby Park when a man wearing a red bandanna approached them from behind. Sheckles yelled for Hurt to watch out and took off running. The man, who Hurt later identified as Pettway, gunned down Sheckles as she fled. He stopped, pointed his gun at Hurt but for some reason didn't fire, Hurt testified.

"This is somebody who wanted to kill Troya Sheckles and Troya Sheckles alone," said Jones Brown.

After jurors left the courtroom, Hammond turned to his family, told them he loved them and said, "don't worry about this."

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