A jury Wednesday found a man guilty of capital murder and other charges in the October 2008 death of Arkansas television anchor Anne Pressly after deliberating for slightly more than two hours.

Television station KARK-TV reported that Curtis Lavelle Vance, 29, was convicted of capital murder, residential burglary, rape, and theft of property. A sentencing phase will determine whether he receives life in prison or the death penalty.

Pressly, 26, the morning news anchor for Little Rock, Arkansas, television station KATV, was found badly beaten and unconscious in her home. She died five days later.

David Bazzel, a friend of Pressly, told KARK, “Today was justice for Anne. And it’s taken a year to get to it, and I know nobody’s more grateful than the parents and all of us as friends.”

The hardest part of the trial was having to listen to an account of the last moments of Pressly’s life, he said.

(article and photo source: CNN)