William Labrador appeared sullen as he returned to Her Majesty's Prison on the British Virgin Island of Tortola. Having just been convicted of murdering 34-year-old Lois McMillen, he was preparing to serve a mandatory life sentence.

As the door to Cell 404 clanged shut behind him, Labrador was greeted by crying and shouts of encouragement from prisoners, who had come to regard him as something of a hero since their conditions improved at the prodding of Labrador's family.

One prisoner, Channon Lytton, was in a cell on the tier above Labrador's when he returned after a jury of seven women and two men delivered the guilty verdict.

"He was probably about 30 feet away. He looked up and I said, 'It's going to be OK. It's going to be OK,'" Lytton, 49, recalled during a phone interview Wednesday. "I was crying and told him to keep faith and that everything was going to be OK. He just hung his head and I said, 'I know.'"

It was the testimony of Lytton's ex-husband, Jeffrey Plante, that may have brought about Labrador's conviction. Plante, a 59-year-old convicted swindler, testified that Labrador, 37, confessed to killing the Connecticut artist after an argument over money.

Lytton was trying to leave Tortola when police arrested her May 6 on suspicion of passing a bad check for $300. Two days later, police formally charged the Alabama woman, who speaks with a distinctive Southern accent, with passing bad checks totaling $592, Lytton told Court TV.

She paid the debts Friday, the day after the verdict, and was released. Representatives of the phone company and a supermarket on Tortola told a magistrate that they were satisfied and wanted the charges dropped, according to Lytton.

Prosecutor Terrence Williams is "on leave" this week and unavailable, his office said. A spokesperson for the territory's attorney general did not return calls and the government so far has not responded to criticism that Labrador was held without evidence for four months before Plante stepped forward. Three American co-defendants were ordered released by the trial judge May 3 for lack of evidence, but the judge told jurors they could convict Labrador of McMillen's murder if they believed Plante's testimony.

When Plante's ex-wife was arrested, she was preparing to leave the island. Labrador's lawyer had decided that he would not need Lytton to testify about Plante's character and history of deceiving businesspeople and women he courted.

Lytton said she was brought to a police station in Road Town, the capital of the British territory, and sat in an interrogation room for five hours. Plante, who is being held at the same police station on charges he passed 32 bad checks after implicating Labrador, took delight that his ex-wife was there too, Lytton said.

"I never laid eyes on him but I heard him. He was taunting me, 'Ha, ha, ha. What goes around comes around, huh, baby?'" Lytton said, quoting her ex-husband, whom she divorced in March 2000.

After being held at the police station for two days in a small room equipped only with a wooden bench, Lytton said she was remanded to the prison without bail by a local magistrate.

She met Labrador there the first time the following day, May 9. His mother, Barbara Labrador of Southampton, N.Y., was visiting and the defendant was talking about all the packing he had to do, Lytton said.

Then judgment day came for William Labrador.

Inmates monitored a local radio station for news from the downtown courthouse where jurors had been hearing testimony since April 2. At 6:30 p.m., they heard the jury was deadlocked 7-2 after deliberating five and a half hours — though jurors did not indicate which way they were leaning. They also learned that Justice Kenneth Benjamin sent the jury back in to deliberate further.

About 8:30 p.m., a collective cry went up at the prison when word came that Labrador had been convicted, Lytton said. About 15 minutes later, he was back in his cell.

"I was crying more than he was," Lytton said. "He was at such peace the day before. I think he was in total shock. I know we were."

Barbara Labrador declined comment about Lytton's ordeal or any aspect of the case Wednesday. She told Court TV Friday, the day after the verdict, that an appeal is being prepared.