PORTLAND – Jurors deliberated for about three hours Tuesday before finding an insurance agent guilty of murdering a hairdresser in order to collect a $100,000 policy that he wrote.

Santanu “Sam” Basu, 34, of Standish faces 25 years to life in prison for killing Azita Jamshab, whose body was found near a Cumberland gravel pit in March 2002. She had been shot four times.

The prosecution argued at the trial in Cumberland County Superior Court that Basu wrote a life insurance policy for Jamshab that named himself as the beneficiary, and then killed the 29-year-old to collect the proceeds.

“This was a premeditated execution for money, and it is difficult to understand how anyone can be that evil,” Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese said after the verdict was read.

Evidence at the trial showed that Jamshab’s blood was found in the car that Basu rented on the day of the murder. Police also found Basu’s fingerprints on a “to-do list” that listed renting a car and getting ammunition, gloves, a pillow and garbage bags.

A friend of Basu testified that the defendant asked him to provide an alibi for the night of the slaying.

Basu testified that he and Jamshab were kidnapped by her lover, who then killed the woman. No sentencing date has been set in the case.