DALLAS (AP) — A jury has found a former Roman Catholic priest guilty of plotting the death of a man who accused him of sexual abuse.

The Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/KddSh1 ) reports the Dallas County jury of three men and nine women returned its verdict on John M. Fiala Thursday afternoon after a few hours of deliberation.

Fiala could be sentenced to up to life in prison for solicitation of capital murder.

Prosecutors say Fiala tried to hire a neighbor's brother to kill the man who accused him of abuse in 2008 when Fiala was the priest at a rural West Texas parish and his accuser was 16.

Fiala's defense attorney argued that the former priest had no true intention of having his accuser killed.