A 29-year-old Waggaman man was convicted late Friday of shooting to death a Mandeville mother of four while her children scrambled to safety inside their home.

About 8:40 p.m., after about five hours of jury deliberation, Dominic Robinson was found guilty as charged of first-degree murder. A jury will now decide his fate, the death penalty or life in prison.

Sobs erupted from the audience when the verdict was read. Robinson was accused of following Samantha Jaume, 25, from the Wal-Mart in Covington to her home in the Woodridge subdivision off Louisiana Highway 22 on July 4, 2001, with plans to carjack her new Ford Expedition. The robbery went awry, and she was killed with one gunshot to her head while her children hid nearby.

Robinson showed no visible emotion as the verdict was read in the seven-year-old murder case that shocked the Northshore. Several minutes later he turned to his family and said, "Be strong. Be strong."

The verdict rocked Robinson'��s family, who for hours before the verdict sang gospel hymns inside a closed witness room. Clapping and singing, "I'��m going to trust Him for his worth. I'��m going to trust Him. I'��m going to treat everybody right," his family turned back to God outside the courtroom.

"It was unfair," Robinson'��s aunt, Ethel Lawrence, dressed in her Sunday best, said. "There'��s no DNA evidence. It was all circumstantial. Hearsay. Hearsay that the (district attorney) twisted the way they wanted to."

She stopped and sighed before continuing.

"It'��s going to work out. It'��s going to work out '�- (the jurors) have to remember a life is in their hands. Now its in God'��s hand, but He'��s never failed us."

Lawrence said jurors were likely spooked by Gustav and rushed to a decision.

Meanwhile, Jaume'��s husband, Jason Jaume, was ecstatic. Although he declined to comment, citing a gag order still in place, his family smiled when approached by a reporter. One said, '��We'��re very pleased, but we can'��t talk about it.'��

Earlier, when the verdict was read, Jason Jaume broke into loud sobbing tears, his head bent down into his head. Family members clutched his arms and patted him on the back.

Others cried, too. One member of Robinson'��s family started shaking, curling up into the arms of Robinson'��s cousin, Monica Marshal, when the verdict was announced. Marshal ushered the woman out of the courtroom, parting seven of the courtroom'��s 11 deputies standing in front of the courtroom doors.

Jurors also teared up. At least five dabbed their eyes with tissues when audience members erupted in tears. None could be reached for comment.

Earlier in the week Robinson took the stand in his own defense, arguing he couldn'��t accept prosecutors deal of life in prison without the death penalty phase if he pleaded guilty to Jaume'��s murder.

"I'��d rather die than admitting something I didn'��t do," he told jurors.

Robinson'��s case hinged largely on circumstantial evidence. No DNA evidence was found linking him to the crime scene. And the prosecution'��s key witness, Jason Gainey, who allegedly drove Robinson to the crime scene, recanted his testimony on the stand. Gainey, who offered to testify in exchange for an armed robbery charge, could now face first-degree murder charges and the death penalty, if convicted.

"This is a straight up credibility call," prosecutor Scott Gardner argued in closing arguments. "It'��s who you believe and who you don'��t believe."

Robinson is already serving a life sentence for a Houma carjacking, kidnapping and attempted murder that occurred several months after the Jaume murder. He was scheduled to return this weekend to Angola, where he is currently serving his life term. While Louisiana law calls for the penalty phase of a trial to begin no later than 12 hours after the verdict is read, Hurricane Gustav, threatening to strike the Louisiana coast Tuesday, threw the trial into flux.

With the storm approaching, State District Court Judge Elaine Dimiceli ruled a mistrial on the sentencing phase.

"Twelve hours from now we will likely be under an evacuation order," she said. "I think we knew previously we had 14 members of the jury below Interstate 10 who are subject to the order.

"I'��m finding it basically impossible to continue," she said. "We can'��t keep these jurors sequestered anymore."

Defense attorney Dwight Doskey objected, saying with five hours of jury deliberation it was obvious some jurors were pulled between first-degree murder and a lesser optional conviction of second-degree murder.

After roughly a week of interviewing 500 jurors to find the 12 seated, Doskey said it would cost taxpayers more money and court officials more time to pick another jury. In addition, the trial may have to be "basically" retried in front of a new death penalty jury.

One prosecutor who didn'��t disclose his identity because of a gag order still in effect, called the move "unprecedented."

It'��s unclear how the death penalty phase will continue.