An Ocean County jury found Michael LaSane guilty Wednesday of the 1996 murder of Tinton Falls teacher Kathleen Weinstein.

The verdict came in after less than half a day of deliberations. LaSane, then 17 years old, carjacked the 45-year-old teacher from a Toms River shopping center. He then took her to a wooded area of Berkeley Township and smothered her.

Weinstein secretly taped her conversations with her abductor for 46 minutes, using a tiny recorder she hid in her coat pocket. The tape was a key piece of evidence in the two-week trial.

LaSane is scheduled to be sentenced March 23. He could be sentenced to at least 60 years in prison.Related Information Jury weighs fate of suspect in slaying of Tinton Falls teacher