Julie Schenecker, the New Tampa, Fla., woman who stood accused of killing her two teenage children in cold blood in 2011, was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder on Thursday. Schenecker was sentenced to two life terms.

Julie Schenecker Found Guilty

Throughout the trial, Schenecker didn’t deny that she shot and killed her 16-year-old daughter Calyx and 13-year-old son Beau. However, her lawyers reasoned that she was not guilty by reason of insanity. After two hours of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict.

Following her conviction and sentencing, Schenecker addressed Judge Emmett L. Batttles:

"Your honor, I’m prepared and I accept your sentence," she said, according to Bay News 9. "I apologize to everybody in this courtroom who I have broken. The lives I have destroyed. I hope that they can collect themselves as best as possible. All of us…”

"Everyone has been so deeply affected and I understand there are people who are affected by this, that may have just read in the paper, maybe a child who looked at their mommy and said 'mommy are you ever going to shoot me?'” she added. “I know that this could have happened and I apologize for what happened, what I did. I take responsibility. I was there. I know, I know I shot my son and daughter. I don’t know why, but I have a period of time to try and understand that…”

Col. Parker Schenecker, Julie Schenecker’s ex-husband who divorced her following their children’s deaths, thanked the Tampa Bay community and hoped that now that the trial was over his surviving family would be able to move forward.

"First of all I would like to thank the greater Tampa Bay community for their love and support of Calyx and Beau over past three years. It's been a trying time for all of us and you have continued to show us your kindness,” Parker Schenecker said. "Giving voice to them has been my priority throughout this entire process. And their voices have been heard due to the efforts of many… While this decision doesn't bring my children back, it does give our family a chance to move forward."

The only way in which the jury could have found Schenecker not guilty by reason of insanity is if the defense had given them reason to believe that Schenecker didn’t know her actions were wrong, or didn’t know what she was doing when she pulled the trigger.