A man was found guilty Thursday of killing Taco Bell manager Tikkitress Johnson in 2009 as she begged for her life.
The same jury that convicted Karari Ritchie will be back in court in April to decide whether he should pay for the crime with his life.
Deliberations in the capital murder case took more than 10 hours over two days.
No one testified for the defense, and attorney Joseph Burke focused his closing argument Wednesday on perceived lapses in the investigation that brought Ritchie and his brother, Tesfaye Ritchie, to the attention of investigators.
The brothers were identified by fingerprints on the cups they were served by Johnson when she let them into the restaurant on Aug. 10, 2009.
According to prosecutors, the brothers posed as job applicants, and Johnson let them in before the restaurant opened. After they received their drinks, they robbed Johnson, prosecutors said.
Tesfaye Ritchie pleaded no contest to a first-degree murder charge in 2014 and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
But prosecutors say Karari Ritchie, now 29, bears greater responsibility for killing Johnson.
Johnson was on her hands and knees pleading for her life when Karari Ritchie allegedly determined that she was a witness who could not live, prosecutors have said.
The account came from Ritchie himself in a statement that was not allowed to be presented to the jury.
But jurors did hear Ritchie ask a detective whether God would forgive him for what he had done.
The kitchen knife wielded by Karari Ritchie during the stabbing came from his home, prosecutor Shari Tate said.
Johnson, 39, was a mother of three who had worked at Taco Bell for 20 years before her death. Ritchie had worked for her before.
Ritchie’s brother was not called as a witness.
Broward Circuit Judge Dennis Bailey set a tentative April 22 date for the penalty phase to begin. It should take less than a week, Bailey said.
The jury’s recommendation for death would have to be unanimous in order for Bailey to send Ritchie to death row.
Otherwise, he will receive a mandatory life sentence.
rolmeda@SunSentinel.com, 954-356-4457, Twitter @SSCourts and @rolmeda