TROY – After years of prosecutorial twists and four days of occasionally tumultuous deliberations, a Rensselaer County Supreme Court jury convicted Luis Guevara of stabbing a man to death during an October 2016 burglary.

Guevara's conviction in the killing of Javier Bartolon represents the only trial that is likely to take place in the killings of Bartolon and his roommate nearly three years ago.

The jury convicted Guevara of second-degree felony murder and burglary; he was acquitted on a count of second-degree intentional murder.

At times, the jurors could be heard yelling from behind the door of the jury room. At one point Tuesday, they were led over to Russell Sage College to cool off outside.

But on Wednesday, the jury handed State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Ceresia a note saying they had unanimous verdicts on two charges and a non-unanimous verdict on the third. Ceresia ordered them to continue deliberating.

One juror sent a note to Ceresia saying she felt she was being forced to change her mind. "This is not justice," she wrote.

Defense Attorney Jay Hernandez III said he would seek out that juror, arguing that her comments could weigh strongly in an appeal of Guevara's conviction.

The 23-year-old faces at least 25 years to life in prison at his July 23 sentencing for fatally stabbing Bartolon, 24, during a burglary at the dead man's 1 East Glen Ave. apartment in the North Central neighborhood. Prosecutors said Guevara and others went there to steal money and drugs on the morning of Oct. 17, 2016, the day after Guevara's roommate, 26-year-old Cristian Hernandez, was attacked in Colonie and his body dumped in Brunswick.

No one will ever face trial in that killing: Prosecutors could not come up with enough evidence for indictments against Guevara and the three other men.

The case was marked by Ceresia's decision to dismiss two indictments in the case and dismiss part of a third set of indictments. The judge ruled that the office of former District Attorney Joel E. Abelove failed to present evidence to the three grand juries to support statements the defendants gave about one another during police interrogations.

"We inherited (the case). We've done the best we could with what we had," said District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly, who took office in January. "The courtroom presentation to the jury was done very well, and we got the verdict that we needed."

Assistant District Attorney Andrew Botts, who prosecuted Guevara, called it "a very tough case. We had multiple involved parties."

The three others arrested for alleged involvement in the killing of Cristian Hernandez were Salomon Najera Hernandez, 23, Cresencio Salazar, 28, and Madaleno Perez Calixto, 32.

With Guevara, the four men transported the badly bludgeoned Hernandez to Blue Factory Hill Road in Brunswick, where they allegedly slit his throat before tossing his body into the Quacken Kill. They then went to Bartolon's and Hernandez's apartment at Guevara's urging to steal money, drugs and other valuables. (The defense attorney, deceased victim and defendant share the last name Hernandez, but are not related.)

The four men entered Bartolon's apartment on Oct. 17, 2016, believing he was not at home. But after they discovered him eating breakfast. After Hernandez and Calixto left, Guevara stabbed Bartolon 13 times in the chest and Salazar struck him 20 times on the head with a hammer, according to testimony.

The four defendants — undocumented Mexican nationals, like the dead men — fled the Capital Region. Hernandez, Guevara and Calixto dropped Salazar in New York City, but were arrested in Virginia en route to Texas.

The three men implicated Salazar as the killer in the murders. At the time of their arrests, authorities characterized Salazar as the ringleader; he was the only suspect who never spoke to detectives.

What detectives believed to be a solid case fell apart when Ceresia dismissed the first indictments Abelove's office obtained in the case. The judge subsequently dismissed two rounds of indictments and part of a third round of indictments.

Hernandez and Calixto struck plea deals and became prosecution witnesses. Hernandez agreed to plead guilty to first-degree burglary and received a five-year prison sentence. Calixto will be sentenced to nine years in prison for his plea to first-degree burglary and second-degree kidnapping.

Under questioning by Botts, Calixto and Hernandez portrayed Guevara as the group's ringleader.

Defense attorney Jay Hernandez III said in mounting an affirmative defense he had to prove Guevara didn't know what was going on.

"I knew it was going to be a difficult case," he said. "It's one of the few times the defendant is given the burden of proving something."

Salazar was not charged after the two failed attempts. He was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be deported to Mexico.