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July 27 (UPI) -- A Texas jury has convicted a man of capital murder in the shooting death of a San Antonio police detective in 2016. The Bexar County jury handed down the verdict Monday, nearly five years after Otis McKane shot and killed Detective Benjamin Marconi, 50, while was sitting inside his patrol car writing a traffic ticket. The San Antonio Report said it took jurors just over half an hour to deliberate on the verdict.
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The punishment phase of the trial, in which McKane faces the death penalty, was expected to begin Tuesday.
The San Antonio Express-News reported McKane briefly scuffled with officers as he was being handcuffed after the verdict was read.
"We are very pleased with the verdict," Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzalez said, according to the Report. "I know [Marconi's] family is pleased and relieved."
McKane's defense attorneys said their client shouldn't face capital murder charges because Marconi had been using his cellphone to exchange personal texts just before his death and thus wasn't killed while acting on official police duty.
Investigators said McKane told them he didn't know Marconi but that he shot him because he was angry he hadn't been able to see his child after violating a visitation order.
