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Jury sentences US woman to life in prison for beating her husband to death with a hammer
PHOENIX – A jury has sentenced a woman to life in prison for beating her husband to death with a hammer, sparing her from the death penalty.
The decision Wednesday in Marissa Devault’s trial comes after the jury deliberated for about three days.
The same jury that convicted her of first-degree murder could have sent her to death row for the January 2009 slaying of Dale Harrell.
Prosecutors say Devault killed Harrell in a failed bid to collect on a life insurance policy to repay about $300,000 in loans from her boyfriend.
Devault says she killed him in self-defence and claims he had physically and sexually abused her in the past.
Harrell died nearly a month after the attack of complications from his head injuries.
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