"I needed something for Philip," Boyer said, surrounded by family and press yesterday after David Augustine Higdon was convicted of first-degree murder and armed robbery in Walsted's death.

"It doesn't close it, but at least we got something for Philip," Boyer said.

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Pima County Superior Court Judge Frank Dawley will sentence Higdon to life without parole or with the possibility of parole after 25 years for the murder and up to 35 years for the robbery on March 28.

"Thank God for those jurors and for seeing through him," Boyer said of Higdon, whose attorney argued that a woman committed the murder.

"Who would want to believe anybody would do such a horrible thing to (Philip)?" Boyer said. "And on top of that, to show no remorse, no nothing."

Higdon was calm and expressionless as the verdicts were read. A woman sitting next to Higdon's father, Mike, was asked to leave the courtroom after she burst into sobs and another female friend also was seen crying after the verdicts.

"My son is gone," Boyer said. "Maybe the family can come back together now because we've all been hurt very badly."

Boyer's brother, Steven Myers, said he will feel better once Higdon is sentenced.

"I don't have a nephew anymore," Myers said. "I feel like I need for (Higdon's) life to be taken out with a baseball bat."

Prosecutors originally sought the death penalty if Higdon were convicted, but later withdrew the request.

Yesterday, Higdon agreed to two of five "aggravators" prosecutors would have used in arguing the stiffest sentences for Higdon, allowing jurors to be dismissed. Higdon agreed that he had a prior felony, attempted burglary, for which he served time in prison, and was on community supervision at the time of the murder.

Prosecutors in exchange dropped allegations that the murder was committed for monetary gain; in an especially cruel, heinous or depraved manner; and in malice. They also dropped the allegation that it caused significant emotional and financial harm to Walsted's family.

Walsted, who received more than 50 wounds, was found dead on East Fifth Street near North Hoff Avenue early on June 12, 2002.

A bloody baseball bat and personal items of Walsted's were found at Higdon's house.

Deputy County Attorney Teresa Godoy told jurors that Higdon is a skinhead who targeted Walsted because of his homosexuality and used a baseball bat because it's "the skinheads' weapon of choice."

Defense attorney Bobbi Berry had argued at trial that Higdon's girlfriend, Kathleen Farabaugh Turner, had killed Walsted because he refused her advances as a prostitute and that Higdon was protecting her.

"Today is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz," Godoy said after the verdicts. "I hope today that our community can be liberated from hate.

"If one good thing comes out of this, it's more awareness," Godoy said.

Lori Girshick, director of an antiviolence project for Wingspan, a gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender community center, said Higdon's trial might have had a positive effect on the number of antigay crimes being reported.

"There's been a significant number of hate crimes, antigay crimes being reported to police," said Girshick, who monitored Higdon's trial. "That shows that there's a larger percentage of people willing to come forward than before."