CENTERVILLE — Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmate Jerry Duane Martin was found guilty of capital murder Monday for his role in the 2007 death of TDCJ Officer Susan Canfield during an escape from the Wynne Unit.

It took the jury of seven women and five men just over two hours to deliberate the verdict Monday, after hearing closing statements and a reading of the jury’s charge by State District Court Judge Kenneth H. Keeling.

“I felt that guilty was the appropriate verdict in this case,” Walker County District Attorney David Weeks said. “I am shocked that it happened this quickly, but thankful for this verdict.

“Now the real work will begin in the punishment phase.”

Walker County Assistant District Attorney Jack Choate kicked off the State’s closing arguments Monday by asking jurors to visualize the events of Sept. 24, 2007, when Martin and fellow inmate John Ray Falk escaped from the Wynne Unit.

“As Martin and Falk worked together in the field that day, they began their war — a war without honor,” Choate said. “Martin started that war when approaching TDCJ officer Joe Jeffcoat with a broken watch.”

Choate pointed out the premeditation involved in the inmates’ escape, in which both Martin and Falk knew their obstacles and knew they had to remove those obstacles to obtain freedom.

“They knew there was another hurdle,” the attorney said, referring to Canfield, “but they probably didn’t think much of Susan Canfield, that surely she was not much of an obstacle — but she was.

“When a gunfight ensued between Canfield and Falk, any fear the officer felt was overcome by courage and the zeal to do her job,” he said. “And she stayed on her horse. It stood its ground — just like Canfield.”

Choate went on to discuss the meaning and importance of capital murder with the jury, stating that that the intentional knowing and killing involved in Martin’s crime was obvious.

“There should be no doubt in your minds what happened that day — you know what happened,” he said. “The moment Martin grabbed that gun from Jeffcoat, this was intentional.

“It was two felons doing everything they could to get to freedom,” he added. “Martin saw Falk fighting with Canfield and did what he could to take her out. He drove through and struck her as a way to neutralize her.

“This is a day we have been waiting for a long time,” Choate concluded. “On behalf of the State of Texas, we asked you the jury to honor Susan Canfield by finding Martin guilty of capital murder.”

In taking his turn at closing, defense attorney Paxton Adams pointed out the lack of evidence brought forth by the State, including lead the investigator’s (Texas Rangers’) lack of initiative in conducting an accident reconstruction at the City Service Center scene.

“Did the state ever bring witnesses to talk about accident reconstruction or real evidence,” Adams asked. “They don’t address the serious issues here.

“Texas Rangers had a whole team of guys doing the forensic mapping of the scene — a job done by five guys that could have been done by two,” he continued. “But (the Rangers) did not let (the accident reconstruction team) do their job — and they could have done it all.”

Defense attorney William Carter voiced similar concerns, asking jurors not to “sit and judge from the back of the room” but to “render a true verdict according to the law and the evidence.”

“In this case, there is so much at stake,” Carter said. “In capital murder more so than any, each one of you should view this case as an individual and as a group.

“It is your responsibility to reach a verdict that you believe is proper based on the evidence.”

Monday’s courtroom was filled to capacity with TDCJ employees who came to show support for Susan Canfield’s family as the trial concluded. Officers and others in attendance offered Canfield’s family congratulations after the verdict was read.

The sentencing portion of the trial will begin at 9 a.m. today at the Leon County Courthouse in Centerville, where the State expects to bring five or six witnesses to the stand.

“I want to thank Jack Choate and (Senior Prosecutor) Stephanie Stroud for all their work on behalf of the Canfield family,” Weeks said, stating that he and his team would immediately begin work on the sentencing phase of the trial, where jurors could sentence Martin to death.