Craigslist trial nets conviction

AKRON, Ohio – A self-styled street preacher accused in a deadly plot to lure men with Craigslist job offers and then rob them was found guilty Tuesday of aggravated murder and could face the death penalty.

A jury in Akron returned the verdict in the case against Richard Beasley, who was charged with a high school student with killing two men from Ohio and one from Norfolk, Va. A man from South Carolina was shot but survived and testified about running for his life and hiding in the woods, scared he would bleed to death.

Family members of the victims hugged and wiped away tears as the verdict was read. Beasley slumped in his wheelchair, which he uses because of back problems.

The jury that convicted Beasley will return March 20 to consider whether to recommend the death penalty for him.

Prosecutors labeled the 53-year-old Beasley the triggerman in the 2011 plot with a student he mentored. The 16-year-old student, Brogan Rafferty, was convicted and sentenced last year to life in prison without the chance of parole.