Troy

Teenager Trinity Copeland stood in a courtroom Wednesday and watched her whole life change with one word: "Guilty."

As the jury foreman mouthed the word, the 18-year-old gasped like she had been punched in the stomach. She put her hands over her mouth and quickly turned to look at her mother with wide eyes. She could be heard saying "no" behind her hands as tears welled.

Copeland sat down and leaned over the defense table, crying.

She was found guilty after a five-day trial of a single count of second-degree murder for killing her father on July 13, 2012. Jurors reached the verdict after only three hours of deliberating. The charge carries a term of 25 years to life in prison.

Copeland was a 17-year-old Troy High School student when she shot Harlan Copeland in the side of his head while he reclined on a living room couch in an apartment the two shared in Troy.

Trinity Copeland took the stand Tuesday and told a convoluted tale of the events that began around 3:30 a.m. that day. She said she told her father she had taken his debit card and withdrawn $150 in Albany. That admission, she said, sent her father, who she said was drunk at the time, into a rage, and she said he went to his closet, got a .22-caliber rifle and threatened to kill her.

Copeland said her father changed his mind and ordered her to shoot and kill him, and that if she did not he would kill her and then kill himself.

She told jurors she was afraid, even though prosecutors pointed out she had the gun and was in control of the situation, was just steps from the front door and could have dialed 911 on her cellphone.

She said the 47-year-old electrician laid down on the couch and waited for her to kill him.

"I told him I loved him. Then I shot him," she told jurors, who apparently did not consider her story reasonable.

Evidence introduced at the trial included a photo of Harlan Copeland dead on the couch.

"The jury had the crime scene picture of Mr. Copeland lying on his back with his legs and arms crossed as if sleeping," Assistant District Attorney Shane Hug said outside court. "That was powerful, and she also changed her stories too many times and showed a lack of sympathy for her father."

Prosecutors claimed Trinity Copeland likely never admitted the theft to her dad that morning but knew, because he had filed a police report for the theft, that he would eventually find out she took the money.

According to trial testimony, that would result in discipline and she could possibly be forced to leave the city and live with her grandmother in East Nassau — something she did not want to do.

Detectives and prosecutors believed that Copeland put on gloves, put a towel over her shoulder so she would not get a bruise from the gun's recoil, waited until her father fell asleep on the couch and executed him.

Defense attorney Michael Feit said he would appeal. "They (jurors) apparently did not believe her," Feit said. "The family is very surprised that the jury returned such a verdict so quickly. I thought there were a lot of aspects of this case to look at and it would take them more time." Copeland's mother left the courthouse without commenting. The teen will be sentenced May 27.

bgardinier@timesunion.com • 518-454-5696 • @BobGardinier