A jury has found Edward Downey, 48, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Sara Baillie and Baillie's five-year-old daughter Taliyah Marsman.

The gallery erupted in cheers, applause and sobbing following the reading of the verdict.

A first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence. The Crown is seeking parole ineligibility for 50 years given the fact there are two victims.

The majority of the jury, 11 of the 12 jurors, recommended that Downey serve a minimum of 50 years before becoming eligible for parole.  The twelfth juror offered no recommendation on parole eligibility.

Janet Fredette, the mother of Sara Baillie and the grandmother of Taliyah Marsman, spoke on behalf of the family outside the courthouse following the verdict.

"It has been a long two-and-a-half years to get to this moment in time," said Fredette. "We are most pleased with the outcome of the trial and we are certain justice will be served following this verdict.

“Now I can go home and bury Sara and Taliyah’s ashes and forever let them rest in peace. Our hope is that, in time and little by little, this powerful love we feel for the girls will gradually take up more and more space in our minds each and every day, that pictures and sounds of happier times will settle on us and drive out the darkness that has become part of our daily lives in the most recent past.”

Fredette considers her daughter a hero. “Sara died trying to help her friend out of a bad situation," said Fredette. "Sara’s death has ensured that no other individual will be harmed by Mr. Downey.”

The family expressed their gratitude to the Crown prosecutor, the Calgary Police Service, and victims' services.

(**Warning: Graphic content)

Baillie’s body was found with duct tape wrapped around her neck, face and wrists, stuffed into a laundry hamper in a closet in her Panorama Hills home on July 11, 2016. Taliyah’s body was found three days later in a rural area east of Calgary.

During the trial the jury, consisting of five men and seven women, heard from about 30 witnesses.

The medical examiner said both Baillie and Taliyah were asphyxiated. The Crown’s theory is that Downey killed Baillie because he hated her and that he killed Taliyah because she knew him and could identify him.

Baillie was best friends with Downey’s girlfriend, AB, and the prosecution alleged Downey blamed Baillie for the breakup between him and AB and because AB was refusing to work as an escort.

Downey testified in his own defence and denied killing Baillie and Taliyah. He said he was at Baillie’s home that morning but he wasn’t there alone. He said he met an acquaintance and another man at the residence for a drug deal.

Two of Downey’s fingerprints were found on the sticky side of the duct tape that was wrapped around Baillie’s mouth. Downey told the court that one of the men he was with at Baillie’s home asked for tape and that he ripped off a piece and handed it to him. Downey said that when he left the home, both Baillie and Taliyah were alive and well.

Closing arguments in the case were delivered on Monday.

The Crown said that both deaths were intentional despite the fact they were the result of separate motivations and that Downey’s explanation was all lies.

The prosecution said Downey showed up at Baillie’s home unexpected and was unwelcome.

The defence said that Downey is not guilty on both counts and that he testified that he didn’t hate Baillie or blame her for his relationship issues. The defence said that there were still more questions than answers and that should leave the jury with reasonable doubt.

Justice Beth Hughes told the jury that their 'duty is to decide whether the Crown has proved Mr. Downey's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt' and that any information about the case from outside the courtroom is not evidence. She said any verdict that the jury reached must be unanimous on each count but that each juror should make their own decision whether Downey is guilty or not guilty.

Hughes told the jury that when a person charged with an offence testifies, the jury must assess that evidence as they would any other witness. She said that they may accept all, part or none of Downey’s testimony and that the burden of proof rests with the Crown. She said that there is no burden on Downey to prove that he is innocent.

The judge said that the jury ‘need not find a motive for Mr. Downey’s actions in order to find him guilty of an offence’, but that motive can be relevant. Hughes said that the jury must not ‘use evidence of a previous conviction to find than Mr. Downey is a bad character and therefore, likely to have committed the offence he is charged with.’

The judge said that the position of the Crown is that Downey is guilty of killing Baillie and that he ‘made a deliberate decision to kill her and had a plan to do so.’ She said that the prosecution said that Downey ‘kidnapped Taliyah and took her away in Ms Baillie’s white Ford’ and that he also made the ‘deliberate decision to murder Taliyah and planned to do so.’

Justice Hughes told the jury that the position of the defence is that Downey ‘never planned, deliberated, intended to or actually did kill Ms. Baillie or Ms. Marsman’ and that he testified that had no reason to.

A date for the sentencing hearing has been set for March 8th and the hearing will include victim impact statements.

Follow @CTVInaSidhu for complete coverage of the trial.