Jurors on Friday convicted 23-year-old Teddrick Batiste of capital murder for shooting Horace Holiday while trying to steal the man's car for his spinning rims.

The jury is expected to begin hearing evidence Monday in the punishment phase, including allegations that Batiste killed a tattoo parlor owner in an earlier robbery. Batiste faces the death penalty in the April 19, 2009, shooting of Holiday.

After the jury reached a guilty verdict, Holiday's mother, Lisa Harmon, said a quiet, "Thank the Lord," as she left state district Judge Ruben Guerrero's courtroom.

"Justice has been served," Harmon said. "I've been waiting two years to hear this verdict."

Although seeing the evidence in court was painful, Harmon said, Batiste's conviction will give her family closure and her son peace.

In a videotaped statement jurors saw during the trial, Batiste said he donned a ski mask and shot Holiday several times.

"I tensed up, and I shot," Batiste told police hours after the shooting. He was sitting, hands cuffed behind his back, in an interview room.

'Loc' never identified

Batiste said he and a friend followed Holiday home from a north Houston club about 3 a.m. after deciding to steal the chrome rims from Holiday's white Cadillac.

Prosecutors said Batiste shot at Holiday as they drove south on the Eastex freeway. Holiday was hit at least twice and exited the highway to find help. He drove to a convenience store, where he smashed into a gas pump after losing control of the car. He had been shot in the arm and the leg.

Holiday stopped his car, got out and began crawling toward the store.

Batiste and his passenger, a man nicknamed "Loc" who has never been identified, followed. Batiste told police he shot Holiday several more times, killing him.

Batiste's attorneys argued that Loc, not Batiste, was the shooter who appears on surveillance video in a ski mask.

'Try to save his life'

After hearing the shots, Harris County sheriff's deputies at a nearby storefront rushed to the store and saw Batiste fleeing in the Cadillac.

He led police on an 8-mile high-speed chase, throwing a ski mask and a gun out of the window. An officer with spike strips eventually disabled the car, and Batiste surrendered.

Jurors are expected to hear evidence that Batiste and another man killed Steve Robbins at the Black Widow tattoo parlor during a robbery on April 8, 2009.

Defense attorney Skip Cornelius said he was disappointed that Batiste was convicted of capital murder.

"We're going to go forward in the punishment hearing and do our best to defend him and try to save his life," Cornelius said.

Prosecutor Traci Bennett said she preferred not to comment until the case has concluded.

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