The Baptist pastor made the sign of the cross, bowed his head and began to pray, mouthing the words to himself.

On the other side of the Houston courtroom, jurors heard about his affairs with other women, his church that burned to the ground and the 21-year-old son he ultimately persuaded to shoot his wife.

When Tracy Burleson was convicted of capital murder for killing Pauletta Burleson on Thursday, it was a stunning fall from grace for the man who told police in taped interviews that he was "supposed to be a man of God."

"It's very telling that he said, 'supposed to be,' " prosecutor Kari Allen told jurors. "Tracy Burleson is guilty of capital murder as surely as if he had pulled the trigger himself."

The 46-year-old was sentenced automatically to life in prison without parole by state District Judge Susan Brown.

Defense lawyers for Burleson argued there was no evidence the pastor offered to pay William Fuller to kill his wife, other than the word of the killer.

"They did not prove William was hired," attorney Laine Lindsey said.

Fuller, 21, said he shot his stepmother in the back of the head after Burleson offered him part of a $60,000 life insurance policy.

Lindsey said his client did lie and did cheat, but was not desperate enough to kill.

"Tracy didn't have to kill Pauletta to get her out of his life," Lindsey said. "They were separated."

After the verdict, the victim's sisters said they prayed Burleson would be convicted of capital murder.

"He lied, he stole and he cheated her out of her life," Joyce Bingham said. "He's a coward. He's a low-down dirty coward."

Sister Fannie Aaron said Burleson was offered a 40-year plea bargain, "but he felt he was going to get off."

Fuller's mother said she was happy Burleson was going to prison for the rest of his life.

"These are tears of joy," Joyce Fuller said. She said she moved from Houston and gave up parental rights because she feared Burleson.

"The bullet that went to Pauletta would have gone to me," she said.

Burleson's affairs and the church's destruction made investigators suspicious after the May 18, 2010, shooting.

A week before the shooting, the First New Mount Calvary Baptist Church - where Burleson preached - burned down.

Burleson said, "Now that the church is burned down, I've got one more thing to get rid of," a deacon testified.

No charges have been filed in the fire, and Burleson's attorney said the fire was a coincidence.

Prosecutors throughout the week-long trial seized on Burleson's affairs as a motive.

Burleson had proposed to his mistress, Tyonne Palmer. The couple told her family on Mother's Day 2010 they planned to marry, Allen said.

The two met after Palmer and his son became friends. Fuller, who was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, moved in with Palmer after she started looking after the chronically ill young man.

Fuller said he loved Palmer platonically, although she was dating both men in the weeks after the shooting.

Palmer is also charged with capital murder for allegedly aiding Fuller before and after the shooting.

Fuller testified that his father told him of several affairs. Then, in 2008, Burleson began nagging him and hitting him to pesuade him to kill. Fuller is charged with murder instead of capital murder because he cooperated with police.

brian.rogers@chron.com