WASHINGTON, Pa. It was an emotional day Wednesday as the families of Aaron Land, Brian Muha and Terrell Yarbrough testified before a jury who will decide if Yarbrough will be executed for his role in the murders of Land and Muha.

Yarbrough, 29, of Pittsburgh was convicted Tuesday of two counts of murder in the first degree and conspiracy to commit criminal homicide for the May 31, 1999 abduction-murders of Land, 20, of Philadelphia and Muha, 18, of Westerville, Ohio, who were students at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Two pictures of Yarbrough emerged Wednesday the first of a killer who robbed the bodies of his victims after they were dead and wore Muha's rosary as a necklace, and the second of a mentally disabled man whose parents were heroin addicts and who was passed from relative to relative as a small child.

The same jury that convicted Yarbrough of murder will decide whether to impose the death penalty or the sentence Yarbrough to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The first to testify was Kathleen O'Hara, Land's mother, who described her son as a charismatic, natural leader who became a mentor and father figure to his younger siblings when their father died of a heart attack when Land was 14 years old. While she spoke, a photograph of a smiling Aaron Land was projected on a screen for jurors to view, while O'Hara held a smaller, framed photograph.

"He tried to show his brother how to be a man, because Michael didn't have his father, he only had Aaron," she said. "He was their brother, but he was also their dad in some ways."

Chris Muha, Brian Muha's brother, spoke on behalf of his family, while a photo of the two brothers was projected on the screen. Muha described the close relationship between himself and his brother and his brother's kindness and empathy toward others.

"I can't summarize here what Brian meant to our family and what he continues to mean to our family," he said.

He told the jurors that his brother had arranged to have pink and white roses delivered to their mother the morning of May 31, 1999, because he knew that their mother would miss him while he was attending the summer session at Franciscan. A note in Brian's handwriting read: "Mom, just want to say hi even through I'm away, love, Brian."

"Life mattered to Brian," said Muha. "He lived his life to the fullest, so he knew how beautiful it was, and he knew the value of life, his life and the lives of the people he wanted to help. I think if he were here, he'd even say Terrell's life."

Psychologist David Hammer testified on behalf of the defense, saying he had diagnosed Yarbrough as being mildly mentally retarded and possibly effected by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Yarbrough's aunts Tracy Marshall, Itellia Dean and Claudia Adams testified about Yarbrough's upbringing, telling jurors that both of Yarbrough's parents were heroin addicts and Yarbrough's mother was addicted to heroin before and during her pregnancy. Yarbrough's mother was sent to jail less than a year after he was born and was in and out of prison throughout his childhood, they testified.

Dean described finding a 2-year-old Terrell asleep in her home without any adult supervision.

"He had cried himself to sleep," she said. "I called their case worker at the welfare office and tried to explain to her the situation, but she told me to mind my business and hung up the phone."

Land and Muha were students at the Franciscan University of Steubenville when they were kidnapped from their home at 165 McDowell Ave. in Steubenville shortly after 5 a.m. on May 31, 1999. Yarbrough and Herring are accused of ordering the two students into Muha's 1996 black Chevrolet Blazer, then driving them to a section of U.S. Route 22 near the Bavington exit in Robinson Township, Pa., where they were killed.

Yarbrough and Herring were both found guilty of the kidnaping-slayings in Jefferson County, but their murder convictions were overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court, which found that the murders took place in Pennsylvania. Yarbrough also was convicted in Jefferson County of aggravated robbery, kidnaping, gross sexual imposition and theft and was sentenced to 59 years in prison. The state supreme court allowed those charges to stand.

Herring was sentenced to life in prison for the murders, a sentence which was vacated, and 65 years on other charges, which also stood. His murder trial in Washington County is pending.

A Jefferson County jury sentenced Yarbrough to death, but the sentence was vacated with the conviction.

(Wallace-Minger can be contacted at swallace@pafocus.com)