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SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. — A man who had his death sentence for brutally raping and killing a Willcox motel manager in 1995 set aside has been re-sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.

The Sierra Vista Herald reports that 42-year-old Kyle David Sharp was sentenced Friday in Cochise County Superior Court in Bisbee.

Sharp was convicted in 1996 of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering 50-year-old Judith Coughlin.

A judge threw out his death sentence in 2010, saying the lawyer representing him at sentencing didn't present mitigating facts.

The state Attorney General's Office planned another death penalty phase but agreed last month to agree to a natural life sentence.

Judge Ann Littrell said Friday that the life sentence is appropriate because Sharp experienced a "horrific childhood" that included being beaten and raped.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Associated Press,

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    MyOp wrote...
    Mitigating Facts?
    September 10, 2012 4:59 am
    He raped and killed a woman after he called requesting her to bring new towels to the room. The line is "Do unto others and you WOULD have done to you" not "Do unto others as you HAVE had done to you". This judge needs to be dismissed and that worm needs to get the shot in the arm that he deserves. the victim lying naked on the floor, face down, with a T-shirt wrapped around her neck. The victim had a black left eye and multiple bruises on her body. http://www.azcourts.gov/Portals/23/pdf1999/cr970145.pdf
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