Associated Press
MANASSAS, Va. — A jury in Virginia has spared the life of an Army staff sergeant convicted of fatally shooting his wife and a rookie police officer who responded to her call for help.
The decision Thursday by the jury in Manassas means that 34-year-old Ronald Hamilton will serve life in prison without possibility of parole for the deaths of his wife, Crystal Hamilton, and Officer Ashley Guindon, who was working her first shift after being sworn in. In a note, jurors said six favored sparing him and six favored death.
No jury in Virginia has imposed a death sentence since 2011.
Hamilton shot and killed his wife in the family’s Woodbridge home in 2016. He then shot three police officers who responded. Guindon died. The other officers suffered serious injuries but survived.