IBERVILLE PARISH - A former assistant principal has been convicted of murder and feticide after killing a teacher who was several months pregnant with his unborn child.

A jury deliberated for just over half an hour before convicting Robert Marks on all the charges against him - including kidnapping, second-degree murder, and first-degree feticide - in the killing of Lyntell Washington.

"We finally, after five and a half years, got our justice served today," said Darren Glasper, the father of Washington's oldest daughter.

Friends and family members were visibly shaken and in tears as the verdict was read. They hugged and thanked prosecutors inside the Iberville Parish courthouse.

"I was excited," said family friend Melissa Mason. "I felt everything again. It's like I relived it again. That was my best friend."

Defense Attorney Lon Burns spoke out after the verdict, voicing his respect for the jury's decision but says he's not ruling out an appeal.

"I'm absolutely surprised at this point," Burns said. "I thought we raised enough reasonable doubt that the result would have been different."

Marks was charged with the 2016 killing of Washington, who was pregnant with Mark's baby. Prosecutors said Marks, a married man at the time, killed Washington to cover up his affair.

"She was deceived," said family friend Jamicia Fisher. "In her deception, and in her attempt to make things balanced and go and inform, she was killed as a result of that."

Washington's daughter was just three years old when the murder happened and, according to testimony, she witnessed it. She and her dad sat side by side in the courtroom Friday to hear the verdict.

"I'm just grateful that we finally got our day in court," Glasper said. "My daughter and I can finally go back to living a normal life. No longer hiding. No longer in fear."

During the trial Thursday, Baton Rouge Police's lead detective said Marks' cell phone pinged off the same cell tower as Washington's, tying him to the crime scene. Burns argued there was no sure way to tell that he had his cell phone at the time of the murder.

"The defendant made a serious mistake," District Attorney Tony Clayton said Thursday. "He called a woman from that phone after he was pinged from the site where the body was located."

The last to take the stand was East Baton Rouge Coroner Dr. Beau Clark. On display were gruesome photos of Washington's decomposed body and her unborn baby's skeletal remains. The jurors watched in horror, with one day left to decide Marks' fate.

"Dr. Beau Clark wrapped it up, no pun intended, when he talked about how that baby died," Clayton said. "That the baby would have survived had we got to it earlier, outside of that mother's womb."