ANSON, Texas (AP) – An inmate at a West Texas lockup serving 25 years for sexually assaulting a child has been sentenced to death for killing a female corrections officer.
A Jones County jury on Tuesday ordered the death penalty for 24-year-old Dillion Compton. Jurors on Oct. 15 convicted Compton of capital murder in the July 2016 slaying of guard Mari Johnson.
Her beaten body was found in a storage room at the Robertson Unit in Abilene.
Prosecutors say Johnson suffered blunt force trauma and a crushed throat. The defense said Compton and the victim had a sexual relationship.
Deliberations in the penalty phase began Monday in Anson, 200 miles (321.85 kilometers) west of Dallas.
Records show Compton’s prior sentence was for a 2010 Dallas County case in which a girl was raped.
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