It took a Cullman County jury less than an hour Thursday to convict Robert Thomas Mays of murder in the 2003 shooting of his mother, Paula Jeanne Conn of Good Hope.

“I appreciate the good job the jury has done weighing the evidence,” said Marshall County District Attorney Steve Marshall, one of the prosecutors in the case. “We felt like the evidence was there. I don’t think there was any doubt he killed his mother because of his cocaine addiction and because he wanted his inheritance.”

Mays, 35, faces a sentence of 10 to 99 years or life. Marshall and special prosecutor Randy Hillman will ask that Mays receive habitual offender status based on two prior felony convictions.

“We’re going to be seeking a life sentence,” Marshall said.

Circuit Court Judge Frank Brunner will set the sentencing hearing at a later date.

“The resolution of this case is important to the family,” Marshall said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Conn’s brother, Tom Leonard, said family members have put their lives on hold since his sister’s death in February 2003.

“It’s a huge weight off my shoulders,” Leonard said. “The people of this county have really been great to us since this happened.”

Both Marshall and Hillman praised the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office for the work it did on the case.

“The Sheriff (Tyler Roden) and his employees did a helluva job,” Hillman said. “They laid the evidence right out there for us.”

Mays’ attorneys — Michael Fuller and Matthew Carter — expect Mays to appeal the conviction.

“We represented our client’s legal interests to the best of our abilities, but the jury still found him guilty,” Carter said. “He maintains his innocence.”

The jury began deliberating his fate after both sides wrapped up their cases shortly before noon.

“I’m satisfied you will find him guilty of executing his mother because of his crack cocaine addiction,” Hillman told the jury during closing arguments.

A large portion of the prosecution’s case centered on items found in his mother’s truck or in the defendant’s possession at the time of his arrest in Montgomery, including his mother’s credit cards, driver’s license, stamp collection, coin collection and shotgun shells which were consistent with the remnants of the shell taken from Conn’s body during autopsy.

The defense countered that no gun had been found in the case, that no one testified that Mays had any violent tendencies toward his mother and that no fingerprints or DNA had been presented as evidence.

Defense attorney Matthew Carter also pointed out that several witnesses testifying against Mays were convicted felons themselves, and that much of the testimony had been rehearsed. He also pointed out that a witness misidentified one of the investigators in the case as Mays.

Carter called the prosecution’s trial a case of “smoke and mirrors” and compared it to a “shell game”.

“This is a serious matter,” Carter said. “A man’s freedom and liberties were at stake.”

Marshall said the reason that felons, including an admitted prostitute and cocaine addict, were called was because of Mays.

“I didn’t pick them,” Marshall said to the jurors while pointing at Mays. “He did.”

Marshall pointed out that a person didn’t try to buy cocaine from the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery or an elementary school teacher.

“Those aren’t the people you or I would have sitting at our Thanksgiving table, but he would,” Marshall told jurors.

Marshall told jurors there were too many coincidences surrounding the case for Mays not to be guilty, noting that Conn talked about changing her will days before she died, that there were no signs of forced entry and the only items missing were those found in Mays’ possession.

He also pointed out that Mays tried to make a large transaction at an ATM in Cullman on at 5 a.m. on Feb. 10, 2003. Evidence indicates Conn died during the evening of Feb. 9 or early Feb. 10.

“The only comforting thing about this case was that Paula Conn was asleep when she was killed,” Marshall said. “I would have hated that she would have opened her eyes and saw that her son was about to kill her.”

Only one witness took the stand before both sides began closing arguments. Tammy Ricketts, a forensic scientist with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, testified that remnants of a 20-gauge shot gun shell found in Conn’s body were consistent with shells and an empty casing found in the Chevrolet truck driven by the defendant following the murder.

The defense did not bring any witnesses. Mays did not take the stand in his own defense.

The defense made a motion for an acquittal based on lack of evidence after the prosecution rested its case, but Brunner denied the motion.