Rivera’s wife, Carmen Rodriguez, was also in the car and injured in the crash. She spoke to the media Thursday outside of the courtroom and said she agreed to a plea deal.

“My husband is now dead,” Rodriguez said in Spanish through a translator. “There’s nothing anyone could do, and so the only thing I could do is to provide relief to his family, to provide relief to the pain they’re going through. And that makes me feel like a better person.”

After the court proceedings were through, Rodriguez hugged Sciple’s mother.

The plea means Sciple will be released Friday to a treatment facility in Virginia; he will be escorted there by a Marine. The judge sentenced him to a year in jail, but he received credit for time served and has already served 363 days. He was also sentenced to 12 years of probation and two years’ house arrest.

“This is probably as difficult of a case as I have seen,” defense attorney John Fitzgibbons said. “The court proceedings today were very emotional and sad. Mrs. Rodriguez could not have been more compassionate or shown more dignity than she did in this case. Everyone involved in this case is a casualty of war. Capt. Sciple was a normal individual when he volunteered for the Marines shortly after 9/11. He came back a changed man because of his war injuries.”

Sciple has been discharged from the Marines with a 100 percent disability rating. He earned three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for heroism.

“The command investigation that followed this tragedy is in the process of changing the way that every Marine returning to America is evaluated,” Fitzgibbons said. “I understand a number of steps have already been implemented to try to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again. It’s difficult to understand what these men and women go through on these multiple deployments.”

Marine Corps investigators who examined Sciple’s case wrote an 860-page report with recommendations for top brass.

“This investigation reveals a disturbing vulnerability in the support we provide our combat veterans suffering the invisible wounds of PTSD,” wrote Col. John P. Crook of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, in a Sept. 26, 2010 letter. “It is folly to expect a wounded mind to diagnose itself, yet our Marines still depend on an anemic system of self-diagnosis and self-reporting.”

The report details several horrific events in Sciple’s military career. He witnessed “a bus full of casualties and a sea of blood gushing out,” then buried some of the Iraqi civilians — and dug them up when relatives came looking. Sciple was wounded in attacks while on patrol, rode in convoys that were hit by roadside bombs and in June 2009, lost consciousness and bled profusely after a rocket attack in Iraq, leading rescuers to believe he had died.

Sciple’s command in Iraq even expressed concern that Sciple was suffering from PTSD. About two weeks after the rocket attack, Sciple was found removing sutures from his arm with his Swiss Army knife. An assessment showed he had “mild deficits” in verbal learning and difficulty with attention.

Two weeks after that, he was given a neuropsychological assessment and declared “cognitively fit for full duty.” His superiors then sent him back to a California-based wounded warrior battalion. He was eventually sent to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa to a desk assignment. He got into the crash two days after he arrived in Florida.

The early-morning crash happened on Interstate 275; Sciple was headed the wrong way when he collided with Rivera’s car. Rivera and his wife were returning home after helping a friend who had broken down on the road.

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The 28-year-old Sanford man was in custody in Florida after a puzzling disappearance that had his lawyers expressing concern for his health and announcing they couldn’t represent him anymore. Zimmerman had called special prosecutor Angela Corey, his former lawyers said, had an off-the-record chat with a Fox News Channel host and put up a website asking supporters for money.

“It would not be in a client’s best interest to give any statement before it’s his time to testify at trial,” Kahn said. “For him to give a statement, since he already has given an interview to the police, any additional statement at the State Attorney’s Office would just create the possibility of him creating conflict with his previous statements.”

Zimmerman’s new attorney, Mark O’Mara, said after his client’s arrest Wednesday that Zimmerman “is very concerned about the charges, but he is OK.”

“I’m not concerned about his mental well being,” O’Mara said.

Former lawyers Craig Sonner and Hal Uhrig on Tuesday portrayed Zimmerman as erratic, said he hadn’t returned their calls and texts and was buckling under the pressure that has built in the month since the shooting.

Jack Schafer, a professor at Western Illinois University and a former FBI behavioral analyst, said Zimmerman’s behavior shouldn’t cause undue concern. After all, Schafer said, he wasn’t charged with any crime and was free to go wherever he wanted after he spoke to authorities after the shooting.

“If I were him, I’d go somewhere in hiding,” said Schafer. “His life is at risk, not by jurisprudence, but by angry people who are rushing to judgment.”

Leslie Garfield, a Pace University law professor in New York, said Zimmerman’s behavior over the last 48 hours should not affect his prosecution.

“Whatever else goes on behind the scenes before charges aren’t really a factor,” she said. “All that should matter is what his intentions were at the time of the shooting.”

Zimmerman showed the strain in his own words on his website, bearing the American flag.

“As a result of the incident and subsequent media coverage, I have been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately, my entire life,” he wrote. “This website’s sole purpose is to ensure my supporters they are receiving my full attention without any intermediaries.”

Kahn said anything Zimmerman says now, to Corey or the public, could be taken the wrong way.

“The only thing he can do is make the case worse for himself if he says something stupid,” he said. “It may not be incriminating, but if it’s stupid, even if it’s an insignificant fact that shows it’s something he lied about, that’s enough for them to say, ‘Well, he’s lying.’”

“You’re better off not saying anything at this point in the game.”

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Associated Press writers Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Fla., Mike Schneider in Orlando, Fla., and Kyle Hightower in Sanford contributed to this report.

Both were considered fun-loving world travelers by those who knew them. Their friends Paul Davis and Joe Hallett said the pair had a knack for making friends with people of all ages and races. Cooper had traveled to Australia and loved tennis; he was a tennis pro in his hometown and had played against countryman Andy Murray. Kouzaris played rugby, taught English in Taiwan and had traveled through Central America prior to visiting Sarasota.

The men were in Florida staying with Cooper’s family on a Gulf coast beach near Sarasota and on April 15, they dined and drank downtown.

Authorities said both were drunk when they got lost and accidentally wandered just before 3 a.m. into the housing project where Tyson lived.

Witnesses testified that Tyson told them he saw two “crackers” — a derogatory term for white people — walking through the neighborhood and that he intended to rob them. The tourists said they didn’t have any money and begged Tyson to let them go home. The men also told Tyson they were lost.

“Since you ain’t got no money, then I have something for your ass,” Tyson recounted to a witness, then added that he shot the men several times.

Hallett said friends and family were thankful for the support provided by Sarasota police and municipal officials.

And Davis, who attended the trial, said although he was satisfied with the verdict, it rang hollow.

“Ours is a life sentence with no chance of parole for a broken heart and a shattered soul,” Davis said.

Both men also said they were “dissatisfied” with the lack of support or condolences from the United States government and President Barack Obama in particular.

“We would like to publicly express our dissatisfaction at the lack of any public or private message of support or condolence,” Joe Hallett, a friend of the two victims said.

Tyson did not show emotion as Davis and Hallett spoke. Neither did Tyson’s mother, who was also present.

Kouzaris was from Northampton and Cooper was from Hampton Lucy, Warwick. Since their deaths, friends and family have started a foundation to prevent youth violence in the United Kingdom.

The tourists’ bodies were found shirtless on the street and their baggy pants were pulled down to their thighs. Both men still had their wallets and did in fact have money; Cooper also had a cellphone and camera in his pants pocket. Authorities later found that Kouzaris’ blood alcohol level was 0.243 and Cooper’s was 0.214 — well past Florida’s legal limit for intoxication when driving, which is 0.08.

During closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Ed Brodsky told the jury that the case was about “opportunities.”

“For James Cooper and James Kouzaris, they had seized an opportunity to travel abroad,” Brodsky said. “Shawn Tyson seized upon an opportunity to rob and kill two men.”

Tyson was portrayed as an angry teen, one who had the word “Savage” tattooed on his chest and who loved a movie about Jamaican gangs so much that he quoted it when talking to his friends about the murders.

In the end, Tyson was his own undoing. Several prosecution witnesses said Tyson told friends about the shootings in the hours after the killings, then asked friends to hide the murder weapon and bury bullets. A DNA expert said Tyson’s skin cells were found on Cooper’s jeans.

Tyson maintained to police that he was at home during the murders. But witnesses spotted him crawling into his window shortly after hearing gunshots.

Tyson did not testify. His attorneys called only one witness, a crime scene technician, and questioned him briefly. Defense attorneys also tried to discredit the witnesses by saying many of them had criminal records and cooperated with detectives to avoid jail time.

After the jury rendered its verdict, prosecutors played two videos from the parents of Cooper and Kouzaris. The videos depicted both men from birth, showing everything from happy baby photos to school pictures to sports teams. The final photo was of the two men laughing for the camera on a white sand beach.

“They will haunt your thoughts forever,” Hallett told Tyson in the courtroom. “Every night you go to sleep, every morning you wake up, I want you to think of my friends who were murdered.”

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In a statement, the families of Cooper and Kouzaris accused Tyson of being “evil,” saying that they had been given “a life sentence when our sons were so brutally and needlessly taken from us. Ours is a life sentence, with no chance of parole from a broken heart, and a shattered soul.”

Kouzaris was from Northampton and Cooper was from Hampton Lucy, Warwick. Both were considered fun-loving world travelers by friends — but also smart and cautious. Authorities said both were drunk when they got lost and wandered just before 3 a.m. into the housing project where Tyson lived.

Witnesses testified that Tyson told them he saw two “crackers” — his phrase for white people — walking through the neighborhood and that he intended to rob them. The tourists said they didn’t have any money and begged Tyson to let them go home. The men also told Tyson that they were lost.

“Since you ain’t got no money, then I have something for your ass,” Tyson recounted to a witness, then added that he shot the men several times.

The tourists’ bodies were found shirtless on the street and their baggy pants were pulled down to their thighs. Both men still had their wallets and did in fact have money; Cooper also had a cellphone and camera in his pants pocket. Authorities later found that Kouzaris’ blood alcohol level was 0.243 and Cooper’s was 0.214 — well past Florida’s legal limit for intoxication when driving, which is 0.08.

During closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Ed Brodsky told the jury that the case was about “opportunities.”

“For James Cooper and James Kouzaris, they had seized an opportunity to travel abroad,” Brodsky said. “Shawn Tyson seized upon an opportunity to rob and kill two men.”

In the end, Tyson was his own undoing. Prosecutors presented several witnesses who said that Tyson told friends about the shootings in the hours after the killings, then asked friends to hide the murder weapon and bury bullets. A DNA expert said Tyson’s skin cells were found on Cooper’s jeans.

Tyson maintained to police that he was at home during the murders. But witnesses spotted him crawling into his window shortly after hearing gunshots.

Tyson did not testify. His attorneys called only one witness, a crime scene technician, and questioned him briefly. Defense attorneys also tried to discredit the witnesses by saying that many of them had criminal records and cooperated with detectives in order to avoid jail time.

The defense also said that no one saw Tyson shoot Cooper and Kouzaris.

Authorities say Tyson wasn’t alone the night of the shooting; police have not charged the second suspect because they don’t have enough evidence. That person is currently in prison on unrelated charges.

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