The 2nd District Court panel concluded its task at 2:35 p.m. after just two and a half hours of deliberations.
In his closing remarks, defense attorney Craig Peterson stressed Drommond's bipolar disorder. He asked jurors to consider medical advances that could cure the disorder in the future.
"We ask for hope" Peterson said. "We ask for mercy."
But prosecutor Michael DiReda said giving Drommond life without the possibility of parole would be the only guarantee that "this will not happen again."
"This is a case about the safety of society," DiReda said.
Earlier Thursday, Drommond's parents made passionate pleas to jurors Thursday to spare their son a lifetime behind bars.
A tearful Marjorie Drommond asked jurors to vote for life with the possibility of parole for her son, who killed his ex-wife in 2005 in an apparent jealous rage.
"I beg you, let him have hope," Marjorie Drommond said. "Let his family have hope."
Drommond's father claimed life without parole "will be like a living death."
"He'd be better off to die," David Drommond Sr. said.
Ten of 12 jurors need to agree to impose a sentence of life without parole.
On Aug. 28, 2005, Drommond shot 28-year-old Janeil Drommond in the torso and head on the steps of his Bountiful townhouse, moments after the woman had ushered their two children inside for a court-ordered visitation.
Drommond then shot and wounded his former father-in-law, Neil Reed Bradley, 53, when he ran to his daughter's rescue. When Drommond tried to turn the gun on himself, neighbors wrestled it away and held him for police.
Friends of Janeil and David Drommond testified earlier this week that David Drommond had a history of violent, jealous reactions when seeing Janeil Drommond with other men. She had taken a restraining order out on him months before her killing and planned to remarry that year.
The death penalty was removed from consideration in December when Drommond, 32, pleaded guilty to capital murder. Prosecutors said Drommond's mental health was a consideration in the decision.
Defense attorneys want Drommond to serve 20 years to life.
