GUILTY: Jury convicts Marcelle Waldon in 2020 murders of Edie and David Henderson

Marcell Jerrill Waldon was found guilty by a jury late Wednesday of brutally murdering former Lakeland City Commissioner Edie Yates Henderson and her husband, David Henderson, in their Lake Morton home in November 2020.

Waldon was found guilty on all 10 charges, including two first-degree murder charges, burglary of a dwelling with assault, assault and battery while armed with a firearm, two counts of kidnapping, robbery with a firearm, attempted arson, arson, grand theft of a motor vehicle and tampering with physical evidence. Another charge of forgery was thrown out earlier this week.

The trial will now enter the penalty phase, and Waldon, 39, faces a possible death sentence if eight of the 12 jurors, plus the judge, agree he should die for the crimes.

The jury took just over two hours to reach its verdict Wednesday. They also marked their 10-page verdict form "yes" to a list of multiple aggravating factors, which the defense will try to mitigate during the penalty phase.

The morning began with closing arguments from the prosecution and defense. The court broke for lunch, then Circuit Judge J. Kevin Abdoney spent more than an hour and a half instructing the jurors on the laws they were to follow in order to decide whether Waldon was guilty.

“It is important that you follow the law,” he said before the 12 jurors were sent to a separate room to deliberate at about 3:10 p.m. He also said they must have no reasonable doubt the prosecution proved all the elements within the charges against Waldon in order to convict the defendant.

He informed them about the legal definitions of the crimes as well as the elements needed to convict Waldon of lesser crimes.

Prosecutors said Waldon stole jewelry before killing the Hendersons, then tried to cover up the crimes by attempting to burn down the home and torching a car that was stolen from the couple.

Items missing from the Hendersons included, jewelry, credit cards, bank checks and the husband’s white Audi A6.

During closing arguements on Wednesday morning, the defense said that the investigation was too focused on Waldon and the Lakeland Police Department did not do enough to explore other potential suspects.

Further, defense attorney Debra Tuomey told the jury the prosecution did not meet the burden of proof in the case against her client.

“I submit to you that the State of Florida has not met its burden,” Tuomey said.

She blamed the lack of evidence on Lakeland police because they had "blinders" on when it came to other potential suspects, including Jarvis Collins, who she called a “rat” because he set up her client, “a patsy,” to take the blame for the crimes.

She said there were several ways investigators could have done more to find the right suspect. Police should have investigated further at the Lake Wire Inn, she said, where Waldon and Collins were seen together in the afternoon on the day of the murders Nov. 10, 2020.

Earlier the same day, video surveillance footage showed Waldon walking toward dumpsters, holding a pair of black shoes and some bags and then returning to his room without them. The prosecution had shown the videos to the jury.

“Why did they stop at getting the video?” she said of investigators. "What evidence was in that room? What are they missing?”

Potential DNA evidence also was not collected from the room because someone had already rented the room after Waldon had checked out of the motel.

“Why wouldn’t you at least ask or get a search warrant,” Tuomey said.

Further, the dumpsters where items from the crime scene were alleged to have been discarded were not examined by investigators. During testimony, investigators said the contents had already been taken to the dump by the time they had connected Waldon to the crime scene at the Hendersons.

Tuomey tried to discredit Collins’ testimony during the trial, reminding the jury that he had changed his answers to her question on the witness stand.

“Jarvis Collins is a liar,” she said. “You saw for yourself.”

Collins also had unwashed laundry in his bedroom at his mother’s home at the Chestnut Village Apartments. She said investigators never searched his home or took those clothes as evidence belonging to the initial suspect in the case.

Further, the night the car was torched, Waldon was seen in a pickup truck that brought him back to his room. The person driving that vehicle was never investigated for her potential involvement.

Assistant State Attorney Mark Levine had presented the prosecution's closing argument first. He repeated the timeline that he had established at the start of the trial to the jurors but stressed Collins' whereabouts at the time the murders were committed.

Collins had a solid alibi, he said. He was at his mother's house talking to females online, watching porn and asking his mother to get him some cigarettes at the time of the murders. Further, cell phone towers showed his phone within range of a different cell tower than the cell tower closest to the crime scene at the Hendersons.

Levine also gave examples of the indignity and brutality of the homicides.

"When Mr. and Mrs Henderson were in their house, they should have been safe," he said. But Waldon entered their home and intended to steal money and jewelry, Levine said.

"He wanted anything he could get," he said.

He said Waldon did not have the decency to tell Edie Henderson to put on a towel before he tied her up in the Hendersons' third-floor master bedroom as she was about to get dressed for work.

Recounting photos found in the trash folder of Waldon's phone that had been taken at the crime scene showing the Hendersons tied up, Levine called them "twisted trophy photographs."

The sentencing phase of the trial is scheduled to begin Monday.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Marcelle Waldon guilty of killing couple in Lake Morton home in 2020