Timothy Jones Jr. showed no emotion as the jury delivered the verdict after less than two hours of deliberation. They also could have sentenced him to life without parole.

The same Lexington County jury convicted Jones of five counts of murder last week in the deaths of his children, ages 1 to 8, in their Lexington home in August 2014.

Jones is just the second person to be sent to South Carolina's death row in five years. The state has not executed anyone since 2011 and lacks the drugs to carry out lethal injection.

Solicitor Rick Hubbard told jurors that when his wife left him, 37 year old Jones couldn't stand that his control was over.

Jones first killed 6-year-old son Nahtahn in a "white hot rage" after the boy confessed on the phone to his mother to breaking an electrical outlet, Hubbard said.

Over the next several hours, Jones went and got cigarettes, taking his oldest daughter so she wouldn't call for help, and leaving the three other kids with their brother's body.

In a confession, Jones said he strangled 7-year-old Elias with his hands and chased down 8-year-old Merah before choking her. He then used a belt to choke 2-year-old Gabriel and 1-year-old Abigail because he said his hands were too big.

After killing the children, Jones loaded their bodies into his SUV and drove around the Southeast U.S. for nine days before dumping them in five black garbage bags on a dirt road near Camden, Alabama.

He was arrested hours later at a traffic checkpoint in Smith County, Mississippi.

The defense focused on what his lawyers called undiagnosed schizophrenia made worse by drug and alcohol use. Jurors last week rejected their arguments that Jones was not guilty by reason of insanity or guilty but mentally ill.

During his closing argument Thursday, defense lawyer Casey Secor instead focused on how much Jones is loved by his family even after the killings. His grandmother, father and siblings all asked jurors to spare his life .

The children's mother also said she wouldn't choose the death penalty for Jones because she's against capital punishment, but would respect the jury's decision.

Australian Associated Press