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Teen convicted in Hull slaying Murder verdict follows short deliberation By JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press GRANTS PASS -- A teenager was convicted Wednesday of helping his half-brother kill a popular lodge owner in a plot allegedly driven by a desire to steal his sport-utility vehicle for a night on the town. Josh Cain, 19, stood erect and stared straight ahead when the jury came back after less than two and a half hours with guilty verdicts for felony murder and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He faces at least 25 years in prison. No sentencing date was immediately set. Cain's mother, Karen Cain, put a tissue to her mouth and sobbed after the verdict. His stepfather, Doug Walraven, appeared to intentionally bump prosecutor Mike Newman as he stormed out of the courtroom. Members of the victim's family said they felt a sense of closure from the verdict but were saddened as well because it meant the defendant's family was losing a son to prison. John James, the victim's son-in-law, said he spoke to Josh Cain's mother and stepfather while the jury was deliberating and expressed his sympathy. "Nobody can walk away from this and jump up and throw a fist in the air and say `Oh boy,"' said James. "We had a great loss when we lost Bill (Hull) and the Walravens and Cains lost one of their kids. It's real sad." District Attorney Tim Thompson said he was pleased that someone has been held accountable but saw no joy in seeing a young person convicted of such a serious crime. "The defendant's family is now going through the same devastating emotional reaction as the victim's family. There is no winner here," he said. Prosecutors acknowledged Cain didn't pull the trigger, but said he provided the gun and helped 15-year-old half-brother Trevor Walraven hide the body in last summer's slaying of Bill Hull, owner of Black Bar Lodge. They allegedly targeted Hull for his Chevy Suburban, which they used later that same day to take their girlfriends on a date for pizza, a trip to Wal-Mart and a drive-in movie. Cain watched intently during closing arguments as the prosecutor recounted his allegation that the half-brothers stopped Hull on a road outside Wolf Creek last July 26 and forced him to drive up a logging road, where Walraven shot him once in the top of the head with Cain's .357 Magnum revolver. "He was clearly executed, very likely while on his knees," Newman said. Using testimony from the trial, Newman laid out a time line that he suggested showed Cain and Walraven had time together to kill Hull, go home and clean up, eat a snack, then pick up their girlfriends, but there was not time for Walraven to do it all alone. "What you see is it fits," Newman said. While no murder weapon has been found, the markings on a bullet taken from Hull's head match a bullet found at the firing range at the remote country home where Cain and Walraven grew up, Newman said. Cain and Walraven had told their parents that Cain's .357 Magnum was stolen a short time earlier while the parents were selling antiques at a swap meet, and Cain was seen several days before the slaying with a revolver on his hip, Newman said. "You have very good evidence that Joshua Cain's .357 Magnum is the murder weapon," Newman said. The teens, who grew up and were largely home schooled on an isolated family home in the woods, were arrested after a three-day joyride to Eugene and Reedsport. They claimed they simply found Hull's sport-utility vehicle abandoned with the keys inside. Walraven is to be tried separately on an adult charge of aggravated murder. Defense attorney Bob Abel said in his closing there was no physical evidence or conclusive testimony placing Cain on the remote logging road where Hull was killed. He contended all of the evidence pointed solely at Walraven, and that Cain's participation was limited to joyriding in the sport-utility vehicle. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA