LANSING, Mich. — After several days in the courtroom, the jury in Jacob Ficher's trial reached a verdict Tuesday.
Ficher was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the first-degree in the death of his lover's husband.
Tuesday was the day of closing statements in the Ficher trial.
Defense argued that Ficher wasn't intending to kill Ammar Al-Yasari.
On Monday, Ficher took the stand where he said the reason he went to the Al-Yasari home on Feb. 4 was to threaten Ammar.
He wanted to confront Ammar about the emotional and physical abuse Bdour had told him about.
"She did want a divorce but one of the things she discussed was how she felt in danger trying to leave him because he had threatened on multiple occasions that if she had tried to leave he would kill her," Ficher said.
Ficher said Bdour turned off her home's security to let him inside so that he could confront her husband about the abuse while she was at work.
That's when Ficher said he realized that a simple conversation wasn't going to be enough.
"A discussion wasn't going to push him away from the actions that he was doing," Ficher said. "He needed to be scared, he needed to be really scared. I wanted to him that scared. I wanted him to leave. Whether he ran to police or a different country, I just wanted him to be gone."
Ficher waited for Ammar to come home. A mask covered his face and gloves from his days in Army covered his hands.
He brought an axe that he had purchased while drunk and angry, he said.
But 'scaring' Ammar didn't go according to plan, Ficher said.
Ficher claims Ammar arrived home, saw him and swung at him which lead Ficher to fight back. In Ficher's right hand he gripped the axe.
"I fired off two strikes with my right hand which was holding the axe," Ficher said in court. "All I could hear was my heartbeat and I just kept swinging, and kept swinging and kept swinging."
Ficher struck Ammar Al-Yasari 24 times with the axe.
Prosecutors said Ficher planned the brutal murder and committed it out of hatred so he could be with Bdour. Ficher denied that claim.
Ficher said he then found a bottle of bleach in the pantry and poured it over the body, and then left through the front door.
He also got rid of his backpack that carried the murder weapon.
Ficher said Bdour didn't know he was going to kill her husband, she only thought that they were going to talk.
Ficher will be back in court for sentencing on Jan. 8.
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