A North Little Rock man faces life in prison or the death penalty after a federal jury Wednesday found him guilty of murdering a Pine Bluff man.
Vertis Clay, 37, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for the 2003 death of Darryl Johnson, 38.
Authorities accused Clay and two others of killing Johnson to rob him of drugs and money. Johnson was found dead in his home July 22, 2003. He had been shot in the left leg, abdomen and the back of the head, had his hands and feet bound, and was cut on the chest with a knife, prosecutors said.
But Clay's attorneys said Clay was set up to take the blame for the killing orchestrated by another man, Calvin Stovall. Stovall has not yet been tried.
Prosecutors say Stovall wanted Johnson dead for telling the men's marijuana supplier that Stovall had stolen a truckload of marijuana and thousands of dollars.
"This was a vicious drug-conspiracy murder, and that's just what happened," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Volpe told the jury.