A Vicksburg man was convicted Thursday of two counts of armed robbery during which his accomplice was shot to death.

It took a jury just under an hour and a half to return the guilty verdict against Corey Thompson, 26, 4880 U.S. 80.

Sentencing was set for 9 a.m. April 12 by presiding judge M. James Chaney. Thompson could be sentenced to life in prison for the role he played in robbing an admitted drug dealer who shot and killed Thompson’s accomplice, 19-year-old Maurice Morris.

The shootings occurred outside Confederate Ridge Apartments on U.S. 61 North on May 1.

District Attorney Ricky Smith said he was pleased with the jury’s decision after the tough trial.

“I think from the beginning the physical evidence was strong against the defendant,” Smith said.

That evidence included a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, gloves and a black T-shirt covered in Thompson’s blood. Those items told as much of a story as any witness could, said Assistant District Attorney Lane Campbell.

“The thing about physical evidence is it’s not related to anybody, it doesn’t have friends or ex-girlfriends. Physical evidence doesn’t care,” Campbell told the jury during closing arguments.

The prosecution’s case contended that Thompson and Morris carried two shotguns to Confederate Ridge Apartments on May 1 and attempted to rob a man who admitted to being a drug dealer. Thompson then shot twice at the robbery victim’s car while Morris’ street sweeper style shotgun misfired, Campbell said.

The defense contended that Thompson was carrying the gun for personal protection because he used to live in the apartment complex and had been robbed several times. At the complex, Thompson and Morris encountered the two men who started shooting at them, defense attorney Ottowa Carter Jr. argued. Thompson returned fire because he felt threatened, Carter said.

“He really wasn’t trying to kill anybody. He fired in the car to stop the shooting,” Carter said.

Carter denied Thompson had gloves or the black T-shirt and picked apart conflicting testimony from prosecution witnesses.

“The state calls them inconsistency, but I call then what they are. They’re lies,” Carter said.

Carter said he planned to file a post-trial motion — basically an appeal to the trial court.

“We thought we had a case where there was reasonable doubt and we are very disappointed in the outcome,” Carter said.

Thompson initially was charged with capital murder in the death of Morris.

While Mississippi statute allows a capital murder charge if a death occurs in the commission of another felony, Smith has said the grand jury felt that the charge, generally used when the victim of a crime dies in its commission, did not apply in this case.