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CLEVELAND (AP) — A Cleveland man who fatally shot a uniformed Salvation Army worker carrying a Bible was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for what the judge called a "senseless act of random violence."
William Jones, 27, had pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and other charges in the Dec. 2 slaying of 21-year-old Jared Fier-Plesec, who was shot in the head at close range as he left an apartment complex lobby to collect money at one of the charity's kettles.
Jones didn't directly address that during the sentencing when he read a statement referencing police killings of unarmed black people, prosecutors' pursuit of a potential death sentence in his case, unfair treatment of blacks in the justice system, and the value of black lives.
"Buried in dirt or buried behind bars — what's the difference?" said Jones, who was dressed in an orange jail outfit with his wrists shackled to his waist. "We still become dead to the world."
Cuyahoga County Judge Steven Gall said he found it incomprehensible that Jones would try to justify his actions. Beyond the life sentence, Gall added decades more time behind bars for other charges Jones faced in connection with carjackings that followed the shooting.
Investigators said Jones ran away from the apartment building, pulled a woman from her car and sped off, then stole three more cars and shot a woman in the leg during one carjacking.
Police later surrounded and arrested Jones in a suburban Lakewood parking lot where they said he had taken a car from a woman.
At the time, Jones was on post-prison release supervision after serving nearly two years for a previous armed carjacking.
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