The state didn't pursue the death penalty in the case.

The state didn't pursue the death penalty in the case.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Two former Duquesne University football players and a third man were convicted of murder Tuesday for the drug-related kidnapping and beating death of an acquaintance in March 2002.
One of the former college football players, Craig Elias, 23, was convicted of first-degree murder. The other ex-player, Jared Lischner, 21, and the third defendant, 21-year-old Jared Henkel, were each convicted of second-degree murder.
Because prosecutors did not pursue the death penalty, the mandatory sentence for both crimes is life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In general, the defendants showed no emotion as the jury foreman read the verdicts, which were reached after about eight hours of deliberations.
Prosecutors said the three lured Anthony Brownlee and Andrew Jones, both of Pittsburgh, to a row house in the Mount Washington section of the city and beat them because the three believed Jones and Brownlee had stolen two safes filled with drug money.
They let Brownlee go when he promised to replace the stolen money with his own drug money, but the men killed Jones, prosecutors said.
Jones' father, Gary Jones, said the verdict was bittersweet because four families had lost their sons.
"Senseless. The whole thing is totally senseless," Gary Jones said.
Jared Henkel's brother, Matthew, was granted immunity for testifying against the three men, all of whom had lived in the affluent suburb of Mount Lebanon. He testified last week that he borrowed a truck that he and Elias used to drive Jones' body to Follansbee, W.Va., where they dumped it into the Ohio River, after weighting it down with chains and a 50-pound weight.
The defense attorneys tried to blame the killing on Matthew Henkel, saying he hated Jones because the victim had ridiculed him for being gay.
Pat Thomassey, the attorney for Lischner, did not dispute the prosecutor's contention that his client was there when Brownlee and Jones were bound with duct tape, but Thomassey maintained that Lischner went home and went to bed before Jones was murdered.
Thomassey said he is considering an appeal.
When asked if the jury had a difficult time accepting the story that Matthew Henkel killed Jones, Jared Henkel's attorney, Thomas Ceraso, said the jury had to have had a difficult time accepting the prosecution's case.
"Sometimes the truth is far-fetched," Ceraso said.
Merrick expressed appreciation for the jury, which was brought in from Erie County because of pretrial news coverage, and the jurors' ability to sift through conflicting testimony, including that of Henkel's father, Bruce Henkel Sr., who testified that Matthew Henkel confessed to killing Jones.
But Duke George, who represented Elias, said he was surprised that the jury was unmoved by Bruce Henkel Sr.'s testimony and vowed to appeal the conviction.
Elias, Lischner and Jared Henkel will be formally sentenced Jan. 20 by Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning.