Leon Jacob was found guilty by a jury Friday, convicted of two counts of solicitation of capital murder.
The jury deliberated for less than 2 hours and came back with the verdict Friday.
Jacob's sentencing phase will begin Monday morning. He faces anywhere from probation to life in prison.
Jacob was arrested with his girlfriend, veterinarian Valerie McDaniel, in March of 2017. He had been previously charged with assaulting and stalking his ex-girlfriend, Meghan Verikas. Investigators claim he wanted to “take care of her” so she couldn’t testify against him.
Jacob testified the murder-for-hire planning was done by McDaniel.
“I never asked anyone to kill anybody,” the defendant testified Thursday.
“It was very hard to hear,” said McDaniel’s sister Angela Hudson. “Because it’s not true.”
Prosecutors alleged McDaniel wanted her ex-husband, Mack McDaniel, killed because of an ugly divorce and custody battle.
Valerie McDaniel committed suicide after the arrests.
In court, prosecutors revealed the man the couple hired was an undercover police officer who recorded 14 phone and in-person conversations.
In the recordings, the undercover discusses three options with Jacob: get his ex-girlfriend to leave town, have her charged with a crime, or kill her.
However, Jacob offered another explanation for the events presented in court. He says he believed he was hiring a private investigator to find his ex-girlfriend and pay her to leave town.
“I never asked to have anybody hurt, killed harmed, or kidnapped,” Jacob said.
The defendant testified that, in the police audio recordings, he said he didn’t want any harm to come to his ex-girlfriend more than 170 times.
On Monday, witnesses who know Jacob will be called by both prosecutors and the defense.
“There is no one more richly deserving of spending the rest of their lives in jail than Leon Jacob,” said Houston crime victim advocate Andy Kahan.
Jacob’s defense attorney George Parnham says he will spend the weekend preparing those who know Jacob for testimony during Monday’s sentencing phase of the trial.
“I think you’ll hear from co-workers, family members, even ex-family members,” Parnham said.