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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Latest on the trial of the Tennessee man convicted in a 2017 church shooting (all times local):
4:45 p.m.
A Tennessee man convicted of murder in a 2017 Nashville church shooting will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
A jury deliberated for less than two hours Tuesday before handing Emanuel Kidega Samson a sentence of life without parole for the murder of Melanie Crow.
His defense attorney presented evidence he suffered from severe mental illness. She said that even with parole the 25-year-old Samson would be 76 before he could leave prison.
Prosecutors asked the jury to remember Crow and the seven people who were injured during Samson's rampage.
Samson left a note that suggested the shooting was payback for a 2015 massacre at a South Carolina black church. Samson is black and his victims were white.
He still faces sentencing on 42 additional counts, but those sentences will be largely symbolic.
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3:50 p.m.
A Tennessee man convicted of murder in a 2017 Nashville church shooting will spend at least 51 years in prison, but a jury is deciding whether he should have the possibility of parole.
During the Tuesday sentencing phase of Emanuel Kidega Samson's trial, his attorney presented evidence that Samson suffered physical and emotional abuse as a child. A psychiatrist testified he suffered from severe mental illness.
Prosecutors asked the jury to remember Melanie Crow, who was killed, and the other seven people injured in the shooting. They said the psychiatrist's report found that despite Samson's illness, he likely appreciated the wrongfulness of his actions.
Samson left a note that suggested the shooting was payback for a 2015 massacre at a South Carolina black church. Samson is black and his victims were white.
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