Judge

I ask the presiding juror if the jury has reached a unanimous verdict.

Yes, Your Honor.

And as your verdict just follows, we the jury unanimously find the defendant guilty of capital murder as charged in the indictment.

Thank you, ma'am.

Brenda Delgado, please stand.

The jury having found you guilty of capital murder is therefore the order, judgment, and decree of this court that you be taken by the sheriff of Dallas County and by her safely held for transfer to an authorized receiving agency wherein you shall be and transferred to the

Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, wherein you shall be confined for the rest of your natural life.

Good luck to you, ma'am.

Now I accept that as Mr. Makabele submitted, I should not punish Mr. Shoba merely for pleading not guilty and maintaining his innocence.

But that does not mean that Mr. Schaubert is entitled to the leniency that was extended to Mr. Malapani.

The default legal position in respect of both men is that they would both have faced life imprisonment unless such a sentence would be disproportionate.

To say that Mr Malapani's cooperation with the police rendered a life sentence in his case disproportionate is not the same as saying that Mr Shorba is being punished for not cooperating with the police.

I am also persuaded that Mr Shorba's role as the prime mover in the planning and commissioning of the offence

distinguishes his situation from that of Mr Malapani.

But for Mr Shorba, Miss Pule would not have been killed.

But if Mr. Malapani had not accepted the contract on Ms.

Pule's life, the facts of this case strongly suggest that Mr. Shorba would have carried on looking for a way to kill Ms.

Pule with or without Mr. Malapani's help.

Mr. Shorba was the driving force behind the scheme and has done nothing since Ms.

Pule's murder to merit the kind of leniency