The howling wind whistling Monday night through the Oklahoma County Courthouse windows provided an eerie background as Julius Darius Jones, charged with the 1999 killing of an Edmond insurance executive, learned his fate.

Jurors deliberated three hours and 15 minutes before finding Jones, 21, guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a felony - robbery - for the July 28, 1999, slaying of Edmond insurance executive Paul Scott Howell, 45.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The 10-man, two-woman jury returns today to hear evidence in the sentencing phase of the trial.

Jones, a University of Oklahoma freshman on a Presidential Leadership Scholarship at the time of the slaying, stared straight and never changed his expression as District Judge Jerry Bass asked jurors individually if guilty was their verdict.