NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Former Nashville attorney Perry March was convicted Thursday in the murder of his wife, Janet Levine March, in August 1996.

SPECIAL SECTION: March Murder Trial

March was found guilty of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. The jury deliberated approximately 13 hours over two days before reaching their verdict. The trial lasted seven days.

Due to the conviction on all charges, March now faces a possible 64 years in prison. Judge Steve Dozier immediately revoked any chance of bond.

March is now on suicide watch, will receive 15 minute cell checks and will be evaluated by mental health professionals.

SURVEY: Were You Surprised By The March Verdict?

Sentencing is scheduled to begin on Sept. 6, but March's attorney William Massey said they will appeal the jury's decision.

After the verdict was read, March quickly exited the courtroom and did not offer any public comments on the ruling.

The parents of Janet March, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, held a news conference and expressed their thanks to the prosecution team, jury and public for their support.

Since Perry March is now a convicted felon, he will no long have any custody rights to his children, Sammy and Tzipora. The Levines currently have custody of the children and this will likely continue.

Prosecutors said in closing arguments Wednesday that there was no doubt that March killed his wife, despite the fact that her body has never been found.

But defense attorneys for March said the evidence the state has presented to explain the disappearance of his wife Janet Levine March 10 years ago doesn't add up.

The jury, pulled from Chattanooga because of heavy publicity in Nashville, got the case Wednesday and deliberated for about seven hours.

Levines React To March Guilty Verdict

"Can there be any doubt in your mind?" Assistant District Attorney Katy Miller asked jurors. "She's dead. And the state has proven that to you. She's dead and she's murdered."

The state provided testimony from witnesses, including March's father, who gave specific details on how March killed her and disposed of the body, Miller said.

Janet March disappeared in ten years ago Tuesday and was declared legally dead in 2000.

Arthur March, Perry's father, testified against his son Saturday, saying in a videotaped deposition that he helped Perry dispose of the body in a rural area near Bowling Green, Ky.

Miller also referred to Perry March's attempt to conspire with another inmate in the Nashville jail to kill the Levines, and said his actions were ones of a calculating killer.

"If the Levines had been killed, there would only be a 10 percent chance you would find him guilty today," Miller said. "I ask you to find him guilty."

March was convicted earlier this year of conspiracy to murder the Levines, but the jury for the murder trial wasn't informed of that conviction.

His defense attorneys told jurors that the state is building a case without the most important piece of evidence.

"When their case is finished, you should see a puzzle, where the pieces fit together," said March's attorney, Bill Massey. "That has not been done at all. The government wants you to make an astounding and long and precarious leap to find Perry March guilty of a homicide where they can't even show that Janet March is dead."

Massey said prosecutors were trying to distract jurors with jailhouse audiotape of March plotting against the Levines and it had no bearing on the murder trial.

"Those tapes have to do with a man who has had his family stripped from him, removed from him, his policies taken and frozen, every aspect of his life made a nightmare," Massey said. "They want to throw this in and show 'Look, look ... he's just a bad guy."'

Because of the prominence of the March couple, and the mystery surrounding what happened to the wife, the trial drew intense interest in Nashville. Janet March was active in the arts community and her father is a well-known lawyer.

Perry March was identified as a suspect in 1996 and in 1999 moved to Ajijic, Mexico. He wasn't arrested in the case until August 2005.