NEW YORK — A personal trainer who wrote in his diary about how he tried to "vanquish" stripper Catherine Woods' "demons" was convicted Thursday of second-degree murder.

Paul Cortez, 26, nodded twice but otherwise showed no emotion when a jury of eight women and four men pronounced him guilty in connection with Woods' brutal slaying on Nov. 27, 2005, inside her Upper East Side apartment.

The panel deliberated for about 11 hours over three days before reaching a verdict at about 12:15 p.m. ET. The jurors, some of whom were crying, were escorted out a side exit and away from reporters.

Cortez's attorneys vowed to appeal the conviction, saying prosecutors failed to connect Cortez to the vicious beating and slashing death of the pretty 21-year-old exotic dancer from Ohio who longed to dance on Broadway.

Cortez, who was a yoga instructor, took the stand last week to deny any involvement and to try to explain away a bloody fingerprint at the crime scene that matched his.

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Dawn Florio, one of his attorneys, told reporters that jurors clearly returned the guilty verdict based on a fingerprint discovered on a wall in Woods' bedroom. Cortez testified that the barely visible print, which was later enhanced and matched to him in a police lab, could have been old and was left there when he and Woods had sex during her period.

"I think the jury made their decision solely on the fingerprint," Florio said.

Prosecutor Peter Casolaro, who would not speak to reporters, pointed out during closing arguments Tuesday that Cortez's explanation was "ridiculous."

He also reminded jurors of a police criminalist's testimony that the fingerprint had to have been made after blood was spattered on the bedroom wall during the attack on Woods.

"There really was no expert testimony" about blood spatter, Florio said.

Asked why the defense did not call its own witness about the blood and fingerprint, Florio noted that the burden of proof lay with the prosecution, not the accused.

But prosecutors presented other evidence, as well.

Cellphone records showed that Cortez called Woods numerous times the day of the killing. Several calls were made from near her apartment just before the attack. Cortez never called Woods after the murder, suggesting that he knew she was already dead, the prosecution argued.

Florio believes that the jury also may have been unduly influenced by passages from Cortez's diary. Several entries talked about women and violence. One entry read to the jury discussed the frustration Cortez felt over Woods' failure to accept his help.

"She still wanted to take the risk of stripping for money though she might be drugged and molested again," Cortez wrote. "I tried all I could to make her heal and vanquish the demons that kept her self abusing. She thought I betrayed her when I told her father of her nighttime secret life. I wanted her to stop so that she would heal and love me without boundary or pain. But she would never stop."

Florio said Cortez thanked her and lead defense attorney Laura Miranda in private after the verdict was read.

"He accepted it. He was calm. He was very peaceful," Florio said.

Cortez faces 25 years to life in prison when he sentenced March 23 by Superior Court Judge Carol Berkman.