( CNN ) -- After deliberating for only 45 minutes , a jury convicted an Alabama man Thursday of throwing his four children off a Gulf Coast bridge in January 2008 , according to prosecutors . Lam Luong , 38 , admitted throwing the children , who ranged in age from 3 years to 4 months , off the Dauphin Island bridge south of Mobile , according to CNN affiliate WKRG . Charged with five counts of capital murder , he changed his plea to guilty last week . However , Alabama law requires that all capital cases go before a judge and jury , WKRG said . The sentencing phase of Luong 's trial will begin Friday , the Mobile County District Attorney 's office told CNN . Jurors will decide whether he should receive the death penalty or life in prison without parole . A judge is not bound by the jury 's decision , however , and Alabama law requires an automatic appeal in capital cases . Luong and his wife were having marital difficulties , prosecutors said . WKRG reported that during opening arguments in the trial , prosecutors told jurors Luong threw the kids off the bridge so he could see the look on his wife 's face . Luong was on crack at the time , and he told investigators they could charge him if they found the children 's bodies before breaking into laughter , jurors were told . The defense called no witnesses , but told jurors Luong was intoxicated at the time and was incapable of forming the necessary intent to be convicted of a capital offense , asking them to convict him of manslaughter , WKRG said . During the trial , jurors heard about the search for the children 's bodies and saw graphic video of the bodies floating in the water , the station reported . A commercial fisherman recording rough weather off the coast of Venice , Louisiana , found one body , while two duck hunters and a Mississippi marine officer found the other three , according to WKRG . Luong looked down , away from the overhead screens , when the photographs of the children 's bodies were shown . CNN 's Divina Mims contributed to this report .
Luong , Friday , admitted throwing the children off the Dauphin Island bridge . Prosecutors said Luong threw the kids so he could see the look on wife 's face . The four children ranged in age from Friday . The sentencing phase of the Mobile County District 's trial will begin 38 .