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The testimony lasted about a day and a half. The state’s main witness was Cortni Stovall, a woman charged with first-degree murder in the Sept. 9, 2022, shooting that killed Sweeney at the scene.

Stovall pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to first-degree murder last fall in exchange for her cooperation with the investigation. She testified for much of the afternoon Friday.

The jury gave Gray a life sentence, with a recommendation of mercy. He will be eligible for parole after 15 years in prison. Gray also was found guilty of three firearms offenses. He will be sentenced for other counts on June 18. He was found not guilty on a drug-related charge.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Monica Schwartz said she thought it was video evidence pieced together by police that persuaded the jury to convict.

“When I first got the case and saw the work they had done,� Schwartz said, “I was amazed and very impressed.�

On Monday, the second day of testimony, before closing arguments, the jury heard from just three state witnesses: a postal inspector, a latent print expert from the West Virginia State Police and the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä police detective who was the lead investigator on the case.

Gray and his attorneys did not present evidence.

Postal inspector

Brandon Holestine, a U.S. postal inspector, testified about a package that was delivered to Stovall’s apartment. Stovall said during her testimony that the package contained cocaine. The state argued that the theft of this package set off the chain of events leading to Sweeney’s death.

Holestine testified that the package was sent from Phoenix, Arizona, and was delivered on the afternoon of Aug. 29, 2022. The package was sent with tracking identification. That evening, someone inquired about the status of the package.

Fingerprints

Stephen King, a latent print expert for the State Police, testified about the fingerprints and hand prints he found on a white Kia involved in the case. Palm prints and fingerprints collected matched to Gray and his girlfriend, who both rode in the car, according to earlier testimony. King testified that he was given no names of suspects prior to evaluating the prints.

Police camera footage

Detective Joshua Mena, of the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Police Department, walked the jury through body-worn camera footage taken by an officer a few minutes after the shooting. The officer talked to a man in a car at the scene. The man had been mentioned by the defense as another possible suspect.

He was wearing different clothing than the shooter. He had a gun in the car and was carrying a dollar store bag — consistent with Stovall’s testimony that the man was at Dollar General.

Closing arguments

“Who was the shooter?� Schwartz, the assistant prosecuting attorney, asked the jury in her closing argument.

She pointed out that evidence presented by the state showed Gray was the “enforcer� of the alleged drug operation out of Stovall’s apartment, relying on a text from Stovall’s friend saying Gray was going to “walk [Sweeney] down.� The prosecutor implied the text meant Sweeney was to be killed.

On the day of the murder, Gray also was wearing the same outfit as the shooter, minus a black hoodie.

Defense attorney Ed Bullman told the jury that the state’s evidence left room for reasonable doubt, especially since the shooter was wearing a common outfit. Also, Bullman said, hiring a hit man when the group was already losing thousands of dollars didn’t make sense.

“You can’t return a verdict of guilty,� he said. “It’s not there.�