Washington County jurors rejected claims by Terrell Yarbrough that he acted only as a lookout during a 1999 double homicide and convicted him yesterday of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy.

This morning, the same panel of nine women and three men will begin deliberating on whether Mr. Yarbrough, 29, of East Liberty, should be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison for his role in the shooting deaths of Aaron Land, 20, of Philadelphia, and Brian Muha, 18, of Westerville, Ohio, both students at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.

Surrounded by six sheriff's deputies and his lawyers, Mr. Yarbrough did not react to the verdict, reached after about eight hours of deliberations. Discussions went on until 11:40 p.m. Monday and resumed for about another hour yesterday.

The families of the victims did react, however.

"The good people of Washington County have given us justice, finally," said Mr. Land's mother, Kathleen O'Hara, a Philadelphia psychotherapist and grief counselor who wrote a book about dealing with her sorrow.

Although Mr. Yarbrough and an accomplice, Nathan "Boo" Herring, of Steubenville, had been convicted nine years ago in Ohio of the killings, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the pair should be retried in Pennsylvania, where the students' bodies were found after they went missing on Memorial Day 1999.

Mr. Herring is awaiting his retrial, which has not yet been scheduled.

The men were accused of robbing and kidnapping Mr. Land and Mr. Muha at their off-campus apartment, then driving them several miles into Robinson, Washington County, in Mr. Muha's 1996 Chevrolet Blazer.

The students were marched up an embankment along Route 22 and shot to death. Their bodies were found beneath a thicket of wild roses.

The verdict capped off six days of testimony from prosecution witnesses -- mostly police and FBI scientists -- who detailed physical evidence, including Mr. Yarbrough's fingerprints inside Mr. Muha's Blazer and blood spots on Mr. Yarbrough's clothing.

Prosecutors, led by county Assistant District Attorney Michael Lucas, also presented evidence that Mr. Yarbrough was captured hours after the homicides wearing Mr. Muha's rosary beads as a "trophy."

Though Mr. Yarbrough didn't testify, jurors heard him acknowledge being present during the homicides on three audiotapes made by Steubenville and Pittsburgh police, and they saw photos of Mr. Yarbrough and Mr. Herring trying to use Mr. Muha's bank card at an ATM at the University of Pittsburgh.

"Brian Muha and Aaron Land lost their lives for $200. That's all their lives were worth to him," said Mr. Lucas, referring to the amount Mr. Yarbrough said he was to be paid by Mr. Herring for being the lookout during the robbery.

On the audiotapes, Mr. Yarbrough said $15 was taken from the victims after they were dead.

Mr. Yarbrough's defense team, including lawyers Kenneth Haber and Martin Dietz, called no witnesses on their client's behalf. They painted Mr. Yarbrough as a borderline-mentally retarded sidekick of Mr. Herring who couldn't have formed the intent to kill because he had no gun.

They cited evidence that Mr. Herring was in possession of a .44-caliber revolver, and had testimony read into the record from Squirrel Hill psychologist Barbara Vey, who said Mr. Yarbrough protected her from an angry and aggressive Mr. Herring.

Several hours after the killings, the men stole a BMW belonging to Ms. Vey, who has since died. Her statements came during previous trials for the pair.

The families of Mr. Land and Mr. Muha said they have mixed feelings over whether Mr. Yarbrough should be executed.

Ms. O'Hara said she wants Mr. Yarbrough "punished to the fullest extent of the law," but said she wants to leave the decision up to the jury.

Ms. O'Hara said she might have been more sympathetic if Mr. Yarbrough had ever shown "one ounce of remorse."

Brian Muha's mother, Rachel Muha, and his brother, Chris Muha, said they don't favor the death penalty, but they also don't plan to oppose county District Attorney Steven Toprani, who said he "still has an obligation" to pursue the ultimate punishment.

"We believe it's best for Terrell to spend the rest of his life in prison," Ms. Muha said. "We want to see a change of heart, which we haven't seen (from him)."

"We don't want him to be executed for Brian's sake," Chris Muha said.

During the penalty phase of Mr. Yarbrough's last trial in Ohio, evidence was presented that he was seriously neglected as a boy, shuffled between a drug-addicted mother, family members who did not care for him, and a father who died of AIDS when Mr. Yarbrough was 12.

Defense lawyers said Mr. Yarbrough had never visited a dentist and likened his upbringing to that of "a feral child . . . like Romulus and Remus, raised by wolves."

That jury was not swayed, though, and sentenced Mr. Yarbrough to die.

Mr. Toprani hopes for the same outcome.

"The commonwealth certainly is very pleased with today's verdict," he said. "We are now in preparations for the penalty phase."

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