DECATUR, Ga. -- A jury Saturday convicted Anthony Wiley of murder and nine other counts in the sexual assault and stomping death of a bank employee and an attack on her co-worker.
The seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated one hour and 40 minutes before finding Wiley guilty of the Sept. 21 attack on Jean Buice, 35, and Bettye Ann Miles, 34, as they were picnicking in a quiet park in this Atlanta suburb on their lunch hour. Mrs. Buice, daughter-in-law of a prominent area minister, was killed in the attack.
The jury deliberated for more than four hours Saturday night without reaching a decision on whether Wiley, 22, would be sentenced to life in prison or the electric chair. The panel will remain sequestered Sunday and resume deliberations at 9 a.m. Monday.
Wiley cried softly and bowed his head as Dekalb County District Attorney Robert Wilson read the guilty verdict. Wiley was convicted of all 10 counts, including murder, aggravated assault, agravated sodomy and aggravated battery.
Mrs. Buice died from a kick to the chest that tore her heart, a medical examiner testified. She had been beaten and sexually attacked with a tree branch.
Wilson described Mrs. Buice's murder as a 'savage' act and appealed to the jury to sentence Wiley to the electric chair.
'He doesn't care what he did to Jean Buice,' Wilson said. 'And he doesn't care what he did to Bettye Ann Miles. This man should never ever have the possibility -- the remotest possibility -- of ever hurting a human being again.'
Wiley tearfully pleaded that his life be spared.
Mrs. Miles, whose jaw was broken when she was beaten and abused, testified that Wiley had attacked her. She picked out Wiley during an unusual police lineup in which only the hands of six persons were shown, saying she got a good look at the masked assailant's hands as she was forced to give up her jewelry.
Philip Buice, husband of the victim, praised the work of prosecutors and told reporters, 'I've got a lot of emotions swimming around in my head and I can't express them. It's been an ordeal.'
The jury began deliberation Saturday at the end of an emotional trial that drew overflow crowds to a heavily secured courtroom.
In closing arguments, Wilson pointed to Wiley and told the jury that 'without any doubt ... this unbelievable crime that you never wanted to hear was perpetrated at the hands of this man.'
The prosecutor reviewed testimony and evidence in the case and told the jury 'I implore you to find this man guilty. You put guilty on that indictment and let it ring.'
But defense attorney L. Paul Cobb, who had called no witnesses for Wiley, told the jury the state had failed to prove its case. He attacked the credibility of brothers Rodney and Lapas Favors, who were also charged in the crime but testified as prosecution witnesses and identified Wiley as the assailant.
'It's obvious to me that they are covering up for another person and making Anthony the fall guy,' Cobb said.
Lapas Favors testified earlier he was with Wiley when Wiley assaulted the two women but claimed he took no part in the attack.
Rodney Favors told the jury he drove a getaway car for the trio but never left the automobile and was driving around Decatur when the incident occurred.
