It took a jury five minutes to find Jesse Lee McGinnis guilty of murdering 22-year-old Adrian Ramirez Garza and 45 minutes to sentence him to life in prison.

The panel of six men and six women also fined the 24-year-old McGinnis $10,000, the maximum penalty allowed by law.

"This was an appropriate sentence for the nature of the crime," Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said. "The jury let the community know that we won't tolerate gang members committing violence."

Bland said jurors sent a message with how quickly they delivered the guilty verdict and decided upon the life sentence.

Bland wasn't the only one pleased with the decision either.

"We're just very glad it's over. We're glad justice did prevail," Armira Molina, Garza's aunt, said.

Something Santos Garza Jr., Adrian Garza's father, agrees with.

"Justice was served," he said.

Defense attorney Bob Leahey surprised the courtroom in his closing argument when he said that not only did his client act in self-defense during the shooting death of Adrian Garza on June 18, 2006, but that McGinnis was not the one who shot Adrian Garza at all.

Leahey said that Johnnie Joe Oranday, 26, who also faces a charge of murder in connection with Adrian Garza's death, was the shooter.

Leahey said witnesses who fingered McGinnis as the gunman were all intoxicated by drugs and/or alcohol at the party or else were obviously lying on the stand.

He also said that the other partygoers had weapons that night.

"Don't bite off all this stuff that the government would have you believe," Leahey said.

Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said in his own closing statement, "It seems the defendant's story has changed from the beginning of the trial to now."

It's rare when the prosecution is able to provide witnesses to the planning, execution and attempted cover-up of a murder, Bland said, stating that he and his team did just that during McGinnis's trial.

"The defendant escalated a fistfight that happened earlier between his girlfriend and Adrian Garza's girlfriend," Bland said. "You can't let someone avenge a fistfight with a gun," he said.

During the sentencing phase of the trial, Leahey rebuked the jury for the brevity of its deliberation when deciding McGinnis's guilt.

:Is that a perversion of our system?" Leahey queried rhetorically. "I can't say that. But I'm disappointed."

Bland told the jury, "I think you have every right to make a decision as quick as you need to. If you make it quick, it is not abhorrent," he said.

In hopes of mitigating McGinnis's sentence, Leahey brought in witnesses - his client's family and friends - who attested to McGinnis's character and imputed his legal problems to former girlfriend Norma Lee Alva.

"Naomi is the devil to me," said McGinnis's brother-in-law Cody Kemp.

Alva, 20, also faces a charge of murder in connection with Adrian Garza's death.

McGinnis, clad in a white button-down shirt and black slacks, took the witness stand during sentencing for the first time this trial, after he had already been found guilty.

He denied shooting Adrian Garza and blamed Oranday.

McGinnis also disputed witnesses who said he washed his hands with bleach at his sister's house after the shooting.

"I didn't put bleach on my hands. My sister doesn't have bleach. She's allergic to it," he said.

McGinnis also disavowed affiliation with a gang called the "West Texas," claiming that the tattoo reading "West Texas" on the back of his neck is a token of affection for the region of this state.

McGinnis is already serving a 20-year sentence for violating his probation on a prior conviction of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which had been on deferred adjudication. His probation was revoked due to the events on the morning of June 18, 2006.

The assault charges stemmed from a Feb. 28, 2005, attack by McGinnis on Alva with a pair of scissors.

McGinnis said Monday that Alva had him arrested because he accidentally poked her hand with the scissors when he was giving her a haircut.

Meanwhile, no physical evidence linked McGinnis directly to Adrian Garza's death. The prosecution's case was based almost entirely on witness testimony.

"We got what we wanted - but not really" Gina Garcia, Adrian Garza's cousin, said. "It's not going to bring him back."