Life Sentences: Hicks and February Slayings

life sentences: I've wanted to plead guilty since day one, Hicks told Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson, according to CTV. Hudson sentenced Hicks to three consecutive life sentences without parole, tacking on five more years for shooting into a building. Craig Stephen Hicks, 50, pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder more than four years after the February 2015 slayings and two months after incoming District Attorney Satana Deberry dropped plans to seek the death penalty in hopes of concluding a case she said had languished too long. Hicks burst into a Chapel Hill condo owned by 23-year-old Deah Barakat and fatally shot Barakat, his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, 21 and the woman's 19-year-old sister Razan Abu-Salha. Relatives said the victims were targeted because they were Muslim, and asked federal authorities to pursue hate-crime charges. At the time, Chapel Hill police said Hicks claimed he was provoked by competition over parking spaces at the complex where they lived. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.