Arizona man found guilty in gay murder case

A 22-year-old man faces life in prison after being convicted in the beating death of a gay man in 2002. A Pima County, Ariz., superior court jury on Thursday found David A. Higdon guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Philip Walsted, 24. Walsted was found beaten with a baseball bat near his home on June 12, 2002. He died later that day at University Medical Center. Prosecutors said the attack began as a robbery but that Higdon's neo-Nazi beliefs led to the murder. Walsted was struck in the head with the bat up to 20 times. Higdon is scheduled to be sentenced on March 28. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with the minimum sentence making him eligible for parole after 25 years. Jurors also found Higdon guilty of armed robbery, and he faces at least 15 years in prison for that charge.