LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) An Arkansas man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to killing a sheriff’s deputy and two other people last month.Little Rock television station KATV reports James Arthur Bowden was sentenced Friday after taking a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.
Bowden was accused in the killings of Yell County Sheriff’s Deputy Lt. Kevin Mainhart, 61-year-old Rita Miller and 17-year-old Ciera Miller. Family members have said the Millers were relatives of Bowden’s girlfriend.
According to an affidavit, authorities accused Bowden of shooting Mainhart during a traffic stop, then killing Rita Miller and Ciera Miller at a nearby home about 65 miles (105 kilometers) west of Little Rock.
Bowden’s sister previously told The Associated Press after the shootings that her brother was mentally ill.
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