Ashford L. Thompson, May 2010
Jurors are scheduled to return June 10 to begin the mitigation phase of the trial to determine whether Thompson should receive the death penalty.
Thompson sat with his arms crossed as Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer read the verdicts aloud. Thompson never looked at Miktarian's family, who were seated a few feet away, and he paused only to ask his attorney a brief question.
With a gag order in place, neither side would comment to reporters after the hearing.
Officer Miktarian died July 13, 2008, after being shot four times in the head. He had pulled Thompson over for loud music in the driveway of Thompson's home just before 2 a.m.
Miktarian had called for back-up, but when other officers arrived, they found Miktarian on the ground. Miktarian was taken by LifeFlight to MetroHealth Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Police found Thompson an hour later at his sister's home in Bedford Heights with one of Miktarian's handcuffs still on one of his wrists.
Thompson and his attorneys never disputed he murdered Miktarian. The defense's strategy was to convince the jury there was no premeditation in the crime and, hopefully, spare Thompson's life when the sentence recommendation is decided.
This is not the first time Thompson has been in a Summit County courtroom charged with killing Miktarian.
On April 14, 2009, he pleaded guilty to all charges before a panel of three Summit County judges.
But due to a technicality in Ohio law, that plea was vacated because all three judges failed to fully inform Thompson about the post-sentencing sanctions in the underlying felony offenses to which he pleaded guilty.
According to a 2009 Ohio Supreme Court decision, failure to meet that requirement makes a guilty plea invalid because it must be done "knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily in connection with all of the penalties for each and every offense."
Miktarian had served with the Twinsburg Police Department for 11 years and also served as a part-time officer with the Uniontown Police Department.
He is survived by his wife, Holly, and their daughter, Thea, now two years old.
WKYC-TV