CLEVELAND, Ohio -- After the verdict was read convicting Michael Madison in the serial murders of three East Cleveland women, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty walked to the back of the courtroom and hugged the victims' family members.

"He will never do this again," McGinty told Belinda Minor, mother of Shirellda Terry, who would have turned 21 years old this year.

Terry was one of three women Madison is now convicted of killing in a series of attacks that occurred between October 2012 and July 2013. Shetisha Sheeley and Angela Deskins were his other victims.

Family members thanked McGinty on what marks his first successful prosecution in a death penalty case.

The jury of 12 spent less than one day deliberating before returning a guilty verdict on all 13 counts including aggravated felony murder, kidnapping and rape.

The verdict ensures that Madison will never walk the Earth as a free man. Members of the jury will return to court Thursday for the sentencing phase of the trial which will determine whether they will recommend the death penalty.

Madison told the court he plans to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Nancy McDonnell will decide whether to sentence Madison to death or allow him to spend the rest of his life in prison.

The verdict marked 31 days since the trial began. Prosecutors, led by McGinty, called 50 witnesses to testify in the case and presented over a thousand exhibits to jurors.

Madison's defense attorneys, led by David Grant, did not dispute that Madison killed the three women. Instead, his attorneys hoped to convince jurors that Madison did not commit the murders with the degree of prior thought and calculation that would qualify him for the death penalty.

Prosecutors spent over two hours in closing arguments reexamining dozens of photographs showing how Madison mutilated the women's bodies before stuffing them in garbage bags. Their evidence including Madison talking about the killings and how he met the women.

In the sentencing phase, Grant will present testimony from psychological experts and people who knew Madison in an attempt dissuade the jury from recommending a death sentence.

Madison will return to court Friday morning to continue a bench trial on separate charges, including having weapons under disability and a violent sexual offender specification that was attached to the murder and aggravated murder charges.

Cleveland.com covered much of the testimony in Madison's trial. See highlights below.