A Travis County jury found former UT student Colton Pitonyak guilty of the murder of 21-year-old Jennifer Cave less than 90 minutes after closing arguments Monday morning.
They later decided he should spend the next 55 years of his life in prison.
Pitonyak shot and fatally wounded Cave in the torso in the early morning hours of Aug. 17, 2005. Later that day, Cave's body was mutilated in his bathtub. He purchased a hacksaw at a local hardware store that DNA tests show was used to sever Cave's arms and head.
A third gunshot was fired directly into Cave's decapitated head. Pitonyak said he was certain he killed her, but did not hack up the body.
His defense team said Laura Hall, the former UT student who fled to Mexico with Pitonyak, allegedly inflicted the stab wounds and fired the extraneous gunshot. Pitonyak refused to incriminate Hall in testimony Friday, but said she was the only other person who was in his apartment during the time Cave's body was dismembered.
The jury announced its verdict around 1:20 p.m. less than an hour and a half after beginning deliberations. Cave's family, including mother Sharon and her boyfriend Jim Sedwick, erupted in applause, while Pitonyak's parents, Eddie and Bridget, sat stunned and silent.
Cave's family has remained in the courtroom throughout the trial, occasionally leaving when evidence or testimony has been too gruesome.
"We have maintained faith and confidence in the justice system that the right thing would be done," Sedwick said. "And we feel it was."
Defense attorney Sam Bassett said the court's decision will be appealed. The defense team tried to get a lesser charge of manslaughter, but Judge Wilford Flowers denied the request for unspecified reasons. Attorneys Bassett and Roy Minton had also tried to suppress evidence obtained through forced entry into Pitonyak's apartment.
"The state did a good job," Minton said. "The jury considered everything. It was a brutal battle with drugs and alcohol."
Prosecuting attorney Bill Bishop said he never thought the state had a sealed case.
"I don't think it's ever cut and dry," he said.
Hall will now face her own trial for allegedly hindering apprehension of a murder suspect at a date to be determined.
For the Cave family, the trial ends 17 months of uncertainty and frustration.
"We're hoping this provides closure to a terrible chapter in all our lives," Sedwick said.
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