Photos by Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Detective D.L. Flynn displays the handgun that Leroy Ransome II allegedly used in the shooting death of Latasha Boardley.

Leroy Ransome II listens during opening statements at his trial Monday in Roanoke County Circuit Court in Salem.

Witness January Benson points to a diagram of the room in the Super 8 motel where Leroy Ransome allegedly shot Latasha Boardley in November 2006.

Updated 3:50 p.m.

The jury has recommended a sentence of 32 years in prison for Leroy Ransome II. Of that, 25 years is for the first-degree murder charge, three years for using a firearm in the commission of a felony and two years for each of the felony child neglect charges.

Updated 11 a.m.

A Roanoke County jury has found Leroy Ransome II guilty of first-degree murder in the November 2006 shooting death of Latasha Boardley.

The jury, which adjourned Monday night without reaching a verdict, took just half an hour to finish its work this morning. Jurors also convicted Ransome of using of a firearm in a felony and two counts of felony child neglect.

The jury now will determine Ransome's sentence.

Roanoke County authorities have said that Ransome shot Boardley, 25, in the face when she tried to leave their motel room after an argument. Ransome insisted that his semiautomatic handgun went off accidentally while he was cleaning it -- and that he never meant to kill the mother of his two daughters.

Ransome previously had pleaded no contest to first-degree murder and a firearms charge in the case. But based on the revelation that a second eyewitness to the shooting would back Ransome's version of events, Ransome asked to withdraw his plea and take his case to a jury. Roanoke County Circuit Court Judge Robert "Pat" Doherty allowed Ransom to withdraw the plea, which led to this week's trial.