GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - Prosecutors have decided against seeking the death penalty against two men charged with killing another man on the Mississippi coast in 2014.
The decision means 20-year-old Rashad Johnson and 22-year-old Jalen Williams will face a maximum penalty of life without parole if convicted of capital murder in the slaying of 41-year-old Lamont Hayes of Gulfport.
The SunHerald (https://bit.ly/2lqB3y7 ) reports the men were teenagers when they were charged with fatally shooting Hayes during a burglary and attempted robbery almost three years ago.
Johnson and Williams were supposed to go on trial this week in Harrison County, but a judge delayed the case because a relative of a witness had a medical emergency.
The trial is now set for March 20. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
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