An Alabama man accused of clubbing a Chalmette contractor to death with a hammer in 2006 was convicted of second-degree murder Wednesday night after an hour of jury deliberation.

The verdict ended the three-day trial of Joseph Martin, 33, of Harpersville, Ala. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison when sentenced Oct. 13 by state Judge William “Rusty” Knight.

Rene Jaunet Jr., 53, died in August 2006, from one of seven blows or a combination of hits to the head when he and Martin got into an argument after an evening spent snorting cocaine, prosecutor Leigh Anne Wall argued. Jaunet, who hired Martin to work Hurricane Katrina restoration work with his company R&K Construction, was found inside a FEMA trailer on his parents’ Abita Springs land on Aug. 23, 2006, three days after the murder. His father discovered the body under a piece of carpet.

Prosecutors this week sought second-degree murder conviction against Martin, arguing he intended to kill Jaunet during the argument.

The charge carries a mandatory life sentence with hard labor without parole, probation or suspension of sentence.

But defense attorney John Lindner argued Martin was guilty of manslaughter instead, a crime committed in the heat of passion and not with “intent” to kill, punishable by no more than 40 years in prison.

In closing arguments Wednesday Lindner said Martin and Jaunet were high on cocaine and in the spur of the moment — and in a drug induced haze — the murder unfolded.

“He didn’t intend to kill this man or really hurt him,” Lindner argued. “You got two guys who got together, got loaded on cocaine and a tragedy happens.”

Martin, who lived with his then girlfriend Jennifer Vickery next to the family house Jaunet was renovating in Abita Springs, soon fled to Jackson, Miss.

He told his girlfriend he was fired, and they must move to find another job, Wall said.

But his escape was short- lived. St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office investigators tracked Martin to the hotel via his cell phone signal and arrested him in the middle of the night Aug. 25.

Lindner acknowledged to the six-man, six-woman jury that Martin fled to Mississippi because “he knew he did something wrong.”

“I’m not denying that … but consider if there was specific intent for great bodily harm,” he said.

“He knew what he did, and he knew what he did was wrong. He was scared he was going to end up in Angola on a gurney with a needle in his arm,” Lindner said, giving a reason why Martin fled.

Wall fired back.

“This was not provocation,” Wall said. “This was cold and cruel. Seven times he hit (Jaunet) in the head. This is second-degree murder pure and simple.”

Martin was accused of stealing cocaine from Jaunet after the murder.

“He was thinking about taking the cocaine when he walked in, before he swung that hammer,” Wall said.

Wall later picked up a hammer and swung four times on a Styrofoam head to make her point. The head barely moved before finally breaking and rolling off a table on the fourth hit.

“Don’t be fooled,” she told jurors. “This man did it.”