PHILLIP RAWLS
Associated Press
OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — A judge followed a jury’s recommendation and sentenced a man to life in prison without parole for shooting his mother-in-law to death on an Alabama community college campus.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty for 38-year-old Thomas Franklin May III. Jurors convicted May of capital murder and attempted murder in March and voted 10-2 for a sentence of life without parole.
Judge Jacob Walker agreed and ruled Wednesday that May would spend the rest of his life in prison for opening fire at Southern Union Community College in Opelika in 2011. The shots killed his mother-in-law, Brenda Watson Marshall, inside a van, wounded his estranged wife, and flying glass injured their daughter.
Prosecutors argued in court papers that May’s ex-wife, Bethany Mitchell, opposes leniency.
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