NC man found guilty in UNC student Eve Carson's murder, sentenced to life
(CBS/AP) HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. - A North Carolina man was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole on Tuesday for the 2008 slaying of Eve Carson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student body president.
Pictures: Eve Carson, UNC student, murdered
Laurence Lovette was found guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and robbery in Carson's 2008 death.
Immediately after the verdict was read, Lovette was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder, with additional prison time for the other crimes. He was not eligible for the death penalty because he was a minor when the crime was committed.
"Mr. Lovette will spend the rest of his life in prison," Judge Allen Baddour said. "This act has no place in our society. It is not activity that we can allow to occur in our society. The life that Ms. Carson led was too short, but I know that she continues to be an inspiration, not only for her family, but for thousands across this country."
Prosecutors say Lovette, now 21, and his friend Demario Atwater, kidnapped Carson, took her in her SUV to withdraw money from multiple bank ATMs and then shot her five times in a Chapel Hill neighborhood about a mile from UNC.
Police found Carson's body soon after a woman called 911 reporting gunshots and hearing a woman's scream.
Last year, 25-year-old Atwater pleaded guilty to state and federal charges in the case and was sentenced to two terms of life in prison.