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(The Associated Press) The Associated Press is reporting that Daniel Wacht of Cooperstown has been convicted in the shooting and beheading of a university researcher in what prosecutors say was an attempt to impress a white supremacist group.

Jurors deliberated for less than three hours Tuesday before finding Daniel Wacht guilty in the death of 54-year-old Kurt Johnson. The 31-year-old Cooperstown man faces up to life in prison without parole.

Wacht and Johnson met and drank together in a Cooperstown bar on New Year’s Eve 2010. A week later, authorities said Johnson’s head was found in Wacht’s basement. His body has never been found.

Defense attorney Steven Mottinger contended there was no way to prove his client pulled the trigger. Mottinger also asked why Wacht would “kill a white man” for recognition from a white supremacist outfit.