A Lauderdale County jury found Shon P. Byrd Jr. guilty of armed robbery and credit card fraud Thursday, but failed to agree he was guilty in the 2014 shooting death of World War II veteran Billy Putnam.

After 2 hours and 27 minutes of deliberating, the jury couldn’t come to a decision on the capital murder charge. Sentencing for Byrd has not been scheduled.

Putnam had finished shopping for flowers on Mother’s Day at Vowell’s Market Place on North Hills Street in Meridian around 1 p.m. on May 11, 2014, and was fatally shot after getting into his car. Byrd, who was 16 at the time, was later arrested and charged with capital murder, armed robbery and three counts of credit card fraud. He was first tried in April, but a mistrial was declared because of a legal technicality.

Circuit Judge Lester Williamson Jr. said the court would accept Thursday’s guilty verdicts for the robbery and credit card fraud, but said Byrd cannot be retried on the capital murder charge because of the risk of double jeopardy, which is protected by the Fifth Amendment.

Both Bilbo Mitchell, the district attorney, and John Helmert Jr., Byrd’s defense attorney, said capital murder charges must be tried with an underlying crime such as armed robbery, rape or felony child abuse. 

Because the two crimes overlap, Byrd could only be convicted of armed robbery or capital murder, not both. Since the jury convicted Byrd on armed robbery, he cannot be convicted for capital murder. 

Mitchell said the sentencing for armed robbery depends on the age of the defendant, but the maximum can be a day less than what would be considered a “life” sentence for a 19-year-old. He added that a day-to-day sentence would mean no possibility for early release and the sentence for credit card fraud could be consecutive or concurrent with the armed robbery sentence. 

“This was a very difficult case,” Helmert said after the trial. “We had an elderly man who by all accounts was a nice guy who served our country… on the other you have a child who’s only 16 years old.”

The Byrd family declined comment after the trial. At one point during the jury’s deliberation, both Byrd and his mother cried silently in the courtroom.

Byrd will remain in custody until sentencing. Helmert asked for a pre-sentence investigation, which will delay the sentencing hearing.

The bulk of the prosecution’s case rested on co-defendants Veronica Ferguson and Decarlos Santez Clark. Both testified that they rode with Byrd that Sunday, saying he exited the car, they heard gunshots and he re-entered the car.

The GPS coordinates from Byrd’s ankle monitor placed him at Vowell’s for less than 10 minutes that Sunday, according to testimony from Al Moore, who monitors ankle bracelets for Lauderdale County.

The defense argued that Lyndell Pritchard committed the crimes, not Byrd. Pritchard, Clark’s brother, was Ferguson’s boyfriend and has a child with her.

However, prosectors called a witness, Michelle Joiner, who monitors ankle bracelets for the City of Meridian, who testified that Pritchard’s bracelet showed he never left 42nd Street, where he and his mother both lived.

During his closing statements, Helmert tried to discredit the prosecution’s primary witnesses. Helmert pointed out the inconsistencies between their testimonies, including the timeline and details about who did what.

“They can’t be trusted,” Helmert said.

Helmert also argued the prosecution didn’t exclude the possibility that others had been in the car or that Byrd had been asleep in the backseat. He said it was possible someone else operating under Clark’s direction committed the crimes.

But Assistant District Attorney Philip Weinberg called this a “SODDI” defense, or “Some Other Dude Did It” defense.

“All the proof in this case only points to one person,” Weinberg said in his closing arguments.

After the trial, as deputies took Byrd back to the Lauderdale County Detention Facility, he was heard celebrating, yelling to a group of friends gathered outside of the courthouse. 

For the Putnam family, Mitchell acknowledged a sense of dissatisfaction.  

“Mr. Putnam lost his life and his family lost a loved one,” Mitchell said. “It would have been nice for the family.”

The Putnam family didn’t wish to speak after the trial.

“It’s disappointing,” Putnam’s granddaughter Davida Hopkins said, declining to say more.