The Honolulu Star-Advertiser posts, "Jury rejects death penalty in Williams murder case."
A federal court jury in Honolulu Friday rejected the death penalty for former Schofield Barracks soldier Naeem J. Williams, choosing instead to sentence him to life in prison for killing his 5-year-old daughter Talia in 2005.
The case was the first capital murder case tried in the state of Hawaii.
The jury said it was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the death penalty.
The sentence was announced in U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright's court at a 9 a.m. hearing even though the jury reached their decision Thursday afternoon. The jury, which had deliberated on the death penalty for seven days, sent a note to Seabright Thursday saying the process has been "emotionally draining" and they wanted to delay the reading of the decision until Friday.
This is the same jury that found Williams, 34, guilty on April 24 of two capital offenses.
"Former soldier to get life after jury deadlocks," is the AP report filed by Jennifer Sinco Kelleher.
A former soldier convicted of killing his 5-year-old daughter will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a federal jury announced Friday it failed to agree on his sentence in the first death penalty trial in Hawaii since it became a state.
Jurors deliberated for about seven days before telling the judge they were deadlocked on Naeem Williams' sentence.
That means U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright will give Williams life in prison without the possibility of release. He will impose the sentence at a later hearing.
And:
Hawaii's territorial government abolished capital punishment in 1957. But Talia was killed on military property so Williams was tried in the federal system, which allows the death penalty.
Related posts are in the federal death penalty category index.
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