The jury in the Issiah Ross double murder trial reached a verdict Thursday, finding him guilty of the second-degree murder of Devin Clark. The judge, the prosecution and the defense consented to a mistrial in the case of Lyric Woods.
Judge Stephanie Reese sentenced him to a minimum of 240 months (20 years) and a maximum of 300 months (25 years), in addition to a psychological evaluation.
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The verdict comes after the jury started deliberations on Jan. 22. The court was postponed on Monday and Tuesday due to the weekend's winter weather, and ended with a split jury on Wednesday.
After deliberating for four more hours on Thursday, the jury told Reese that they reached a unanimous verdict for Clark, but was "deadlock" on Woods. Because of this deadlock, the prosecution and defense brought a joint motion to declare a mistrial for Woods's murder charge. The judge granted the mistrial, meaning both sides could retry this count, but it will not be resolved today.
The prosecution asked Reese if the retrial for Woods's murder could be revisited in March.
Watch: Jan. 29, 2026: Jury finds Issiah Ross guilty for 2nd degree murder of Devin Clark
Leading up to the decision
Lyric Woods and Devin Clark were found along an ATV path in Orange County in September 2022.
Earlier in January, Ross testified that he killed Clark in self-defense, claiming Clark shot Woods on the remote ATV path during an argument. Ross said Clark threatened him to stay quiet and so, fearing for his life, Ross wrestled the gun away from Clark and shot him.
Ross was initially charged with first-degree murder for the deaths of both Clark and Woods. However, in the case of self-defense, the jury was given the option to find him guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter in Clark's death. The jury was to determine if he was guilty of just first-degree murder of Woods.
The prosecution argued the shooting was not self-defense because the victims had gunshot wounds in their backs.
Both closing arguments pointed to testimony from Christian Sykes, the man who said Ross confessed to him over Snapchat video in the days after the murders. The prosecutor pointed out that Ross did not mention self-defense to Sykes when he talked to him in 2022.
Sykes said he assumed Ross meant he shot Woods and Clark in the car. However, the defense argued that the evidence doesn't support that.
Last week during the proceedings, the prosecution played a 2022 recording of Sykes speaking with law enforcement when he first told them about Ross.
"Said he got the gun from him, and then he said he shot 'em," Sykes played during the recording. "He said the girl who was in the backseat she saw everything, so I turned around and I shot her."
Prosecutors also showed surveillance video of Ross driving a white car at a gas station two miles away from the murder scene.
On Wednesday, Ross shared his account of what happened, saying he had to wrestle the gun away from Clark.
"Do you remember how many times you shot him?" defense attorney Jonathan Trapp asked Ross.
"I just pointed and squeezed," Ross responded.
