El Paso County’s first capital case in a decade ended in defeat for prosecutors Tuesday as a jury threw out the death penalty against double-murderer Glen Law Galloway.

Galloway, 46, instead will be sentenced to life in prison without parole at a hearing at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Six weeks after the start of testimony, the trial was brought to a halt about 3:30 p.m. with the panel’s finding that mitigating factors in the case outweighed aggravation — the focus of the second stage of Galloway’s sentencing after he was convicted last week in the back-to-back shootings of Marcus Anderson and Janice Nam in May 2016.

Nearly three dozen of Galloway’s friends and relatives testified across four days during the so-called mitigation phase, attesting to the defendant’s good character before he allegedly “snapped” in the fallout of a toxic relationship with Nam.

The nine-man, three-woman panel deliberated about five hours before removing the death penalty as an option.

Galloway, who threw a laptop in court on the trial’s opening day and refused to dress up or stand for the judge and jury, remained defiant to the end, griping about the two-day delay in sentencing before mocking one of his prosecutors.

“Better luck next time, Reggy,” Galloway quipped to prosecutor Reggy Short before being led out of court in handcuffs.

The jury’s findings were met with eerie silence as spectators digested the complicated verdict, which required the jury to answer in the form of a double-negative — namely, that it unanimously found that prosecutors did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that mitigation did not outweigh aggravation.

As 4th Judicial District Judge Gregory Werner clarified that the jury had rejected death, emotions quickly grew raw.

Anderson’s sister, Melissa Anderson Digiovanni, buried her face in the shoulder of a supporter beside her as Nam’s sisters, Isabelle Wolfe and Shin Nam, stared blankly ahead. And after jurors left the courtroom, prosecutor Rachael Powell — who previously prosecuted Galloway for stalking Nam — burst into tears and wept at the prosecution table for several minutes.

Prosecutors declined to comment, with Short saying he didn’t want to violate rules about out-of-court statements before Galloway’s sentencing. In addition to life without parole, the defendant also faces 16 to 48 years for second-degree murder and 10 to 32 years for burglary.

A stalwart supporter in court, the defendant’s mother, Bonnie Galloway of Columbus, Ohio, left quietly and alone, telling this reporter, “I can’t talk about this,” her voice strained by emotion.

Tuesday’s verdict marked a clear victory for Galloway’s legal team, which consisted of Colorado Springs public defenders Kim Chalmers and Julian Rosielle and Denver public defenders Daniel King and Kristen Nelson, both members of the Colorado Public Defender’s Office death penalty team who previously represented Aurora theater shooter James Holmes.

In presenting mitigation, the defense reconstructed much of Galloway’s life, from a rough upbringing in Columbus, to his arrival in Colorado Springs with the Army in the early 1990s, to his career as an equipment maintainer in the civilian world, where he worked at microchip manufacturers in Colorado Springs and Austin, Texas.

At the conclusion of their evidence, prosecutor Donna Billek offered a withering assessment of Galloway as an unrepentant killer with a mean streak — rude to his mother, controlling in personal relationships and dismissive of boundaries, including the criminal justice system he defied when he cut off an ankle monitor and went into hiding before killing Anderson and storming into Nam’s home in a deadly invasion at night.

“He is who he is; it is everybody else’s fault, and he’s never going to change,” Billek said.

King argued that Colorado law reserves capital punishment for the “worst crimes and most culpable defendants,” such as serial killers and terrorists, not someone who, King claimed, lost control after four decades as a law-abiding man.

“Mr. Galloway is not just the worst thing that he’s done,” King said. “He’s committed many acts of kindness, friendship, service, love and duty.”

Prosecutors argued that Galloway was consumed by jealousy and a desire for revenge. After being convicted of stalking Nam, 26, he cut off an ankle monitor and went into hiding, allegedly to plot Nam’s murder.

Prosecutors said Galloway fatally shot Anderson, 56, to steal his pickup, which Galloway used to sneak undetected into Nam’s neighborhood, where the defendant eventually smashed through a rear sliding door, stormed upstairs and fatally shot her as she lay in bed.

The jury, however, rejected a first-degree murder conviction in Anderson’s death, consistent with the defense’s claim that Galloway killed Anderson in self-defense. The defense said Galloway then “snapped” and killed Nam, whom he accused of inventing allegations that led to his felony conviction and the loss of his job at Atmel Corp., now known as Microchip Corp.

In arguing the murder case, Galloway’s defense suggested that Nam, angered by Galloway’s infidelity, had invented some of the allegations she lodged against him in the stalking case, as the defendant has alleged.

Some legal observers took the prosecution’s failure to win first-degree murder convictions in both killings as a sign that the jury was unlikely to vote for the death penalty.

El Paso County District Attorney Dan May said nothing about the trial’s outcome affected his view that Galloway deserved the death penalty for what he called “two horrific homicides” by a killer who lacked remorse.

Nam dated Galloway for two years before their relationship unraveled amid reports of threats by the defendant. She did everything she could to distance herself from him through the legal system, May said.

But every measure she pursued — from her dual home security systems to her restraining order and stalking complaint — failed to prevent her murder by a man determined to defy the law at every step, he said.

The verdict comes as May’s office considers whether to pursue the death penalty against two men charged in the killings of Coronado High School students Derek Greer and Natalie Cano-Partida. May said he couldn’t comment on whether it would affect the decision, which is due Monday.

May couldn’t immediately estimate the cost of the trial, saying he would provide the numbers later.

The verdict marks the latest rejection of the death penalty by Colorado jurors. In 2015, a jury imposed life in prison instead of death for Dexter Lewis, who fatally stabbed five people at Fero’s Bar & Grill in Denver. A different panel failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the death penalty for theater shooter Holmes, resulting in a life sentence.

“Once again, a jury has told the government that seeking the death penalty is a waste of everyone’s time,” said Phil Cherner, a retired Denver attorney and death penalty opponent who is chairman of the board for Coloradans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Cherner said he wasn’t surprised that prosecutors lost a death penalty bid even in politically conservative El Paso County.

“The death penalty is not really a conservative or liberal issue. It cuts across those political dynamics,” he said.

Progressives oppose the death penalty for its “morality, its dysfunction and its racial injustice,” while conservatives might object to the waste of resources, he said.