MIAMI — After hours of deliberation, Miami-Dade jurors reached a verdict in the trial of Anthawn Ragan Thursday evening: guilty of first-degree murder. He was accused of a 2013 murder at a North Miami motel.
Prosecutors said Ragan, now 30, shot and killed 21-year-old Luis Miguel Perez at a Motel Seven in November 2013.
6 p.m. report:
With jurors deciding the act was premeditated, he could now face the death penalty.
Ragan did not take the stand in the nearly week-long trial.
Prosecutors have argued that the shooting was a premeditated act, while defense attorneys ― trying to spare Ragan’s life ― argued there was no premeditation and the act was instead second-degree murder.
Jurors, who began deliberating just before noon on Thursday, had the ability to consider that charge and lesser included charges.
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