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(Salt Lake City-AP) -- A man accused of killing his two toddlers was found guilty of first-degree murder this afternoon.
Earlier today, a defense attorney claimed that Anderson Black acted in unplanned fury when he slit the children's throats. Twenty-nine-year-old Black killed 3-year-old Dokota Ironhawk Black and 1-year-old Nicole Gentlehawk Black on September 28th, 2000.
He does not face the death penalty because the killings occurred on Navajo Nation land, and the tribe does not have capital punishment.
Defense attorney Michael Sikora said Black had no plans to commit the crimes when he came home drunk from a dance that night. He had asked jurors to find his client guilty of the lesser offense of second-degree murder.
However, the first-degree conviction supports prosecutors' claims that Black plotted the deaths.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
