In the courtroom, Marion Szlachta glanced back at Randy Maleski's family. Szlachta was charged with beating Maleski, his former roommate to death at their Chicopee home in June 2008.

A Jury found Szlachta guilty or murder in the first degree on Tuesday, and the judge ordered him to life in state prison. For Maleski's family, it is the verdict they have been waiting to hear.

"It's hard. It's still hard. It's over, the verdict is in. Finally that part is done, it's been long we've been waiting over a year for this," the victim's sister, Gabrielle Hochrein, said.

Hochrein said the past year has been difficult on her family. She said they have been haunted by Szlachta even while he was behind bars. Hochrein claimed Szlachta would send the family eerie drawings of baseball bats and loved ones.

It did not stop there. While officers led Szlachta out of the courtroom he made a comment to Maleski's family.

What he said was "say hello to Lori."

Hochrein told CBS 3 Springfield Lori is her dead sister Szlachta once dated.

In court, a doctor testified for the defense about Szlachta's mental health saying he did not understand what he was doing at the time and had a history of depression and alcohol abuse.

"You try to put the pieces together about why. And then when you hear why, my brother didn't deserve it," Hochrein said. "My brother was a funny outgoing guy. He loved to DJ, everybody loved him and he loved to make everyone laugh. He loved dressing in costumes all the time, he loved kids, cats. He was a people person. Very easy to get along with and he'd give you the coat off his back."

Szlachta will serve his sentence without the possibility of parole.