QUINTERO FOUND GUILTY IN THE DEATH OF OFFICER RODNEY JOHNSON!

THE VERDICT HAS BEEN RENDERED!

An illegal immigrant found guilty of killing a Houston police officer show no emotion as his verdict was being read, but his victim's family hugged, wept and even offered the killer's family their condolences.

"Cause if my son had done what he did, it would kill me," Houston Police Officer and victim Rodney Johnson's mother, Cynthia Johnson, said. "I mean really hurt, so they're suffering, too."

Jurors convicted Juan Leonardo Quintero-Perez of capital murder shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday, less than six hours of deliberating the case. The sentencing phase of the trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday at 10 a.m. Quintero faces the death penalty.

Quintero, 34, faced the capital murder charge in the 2006 death of Houston Police Department Officer Rodney Johnson. Johnson's colleague and friend Gary Blankenship said the verdict is the first painful step on the road to closure.

"I was at the scene the night it happened, and being in there made me relive what happened," Blankenship said. "(It) really took a toll on me and the family."

Investigators said Perez fatally shot Johnson four times in the head as he was handcuffed and placed in the back seat of the officer's patrol car. The shooting happened during a traffic stop in the 9300 block of Randolph Street in southeast Houston on Sept. 21, 2006. Johnson took Quintero into custody for driving without a license.

The case went to trial on April 28 after prosecutors rejected the suspect's offer to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence without parole.

Danalynn Recer, an attorney for Quintero, said the Mexican citizen confessed to the killing and accepts responsibility for his actions. She said he would agree to all the evidence against him if offered life without parole.

Instead, Quintero pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity when he was formally arraigned.

Johnson's shooting renewed criticism of the Houston Police Department's policy that only allows officers to ask about immigration status after arresting a suspect.

Critics of the policy said it encourages illegal immigration by creating so-called "sanctuary cities" and it ties officers' hands in enforcing the law.

In January 2008, Quintero's employer, Robert Lane Camp, was indicted with allegedly helping the illegal immigrant return to the U.S. after being deported in 1999 on a conviction for indecency with a child.

Camp, the owner of Camp Landscaping based in Deer Park, stands accused of encouraging Quintero to unlawfully enter and live in the U.S., and of harboring him -- both felony offenses that carry a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Camp, 47, owned the truck Quintero was driving when Johnson pulled him over.

Johnson, 40, was sworn in as a member of the Houston Police Department in December 1994. He received two life-saving awards during his tenure as a Houston police officer.