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IL Man Convicted of Killing Wife, 2 Sons in 2009
WATERLOO, Ill. (AP) -- A former Marine and pastor's son has been convicted of strangling his wife and two sons exactly two years earlier at their Illinois home.

Prosecutors say the slayings were a bid by Christopher Coleman to further an affair and keep a job with a Missouri-based televangelist.

Jurors deliberated 15 hours over two days before finding the 34-year-old Coleman guilty Thursday of three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 31-year-old Sheri Coleman and their two sons, ages 11 and 9.

The trial now advances to the sentencing phase. Prosecutors say they'll seek the death penalty, even though capital punishment was abolished in Illinois in March. The governor has pledged to commute a death sentence given to anyone before the ban takes effect in July.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
05 06 11 by Newsroom
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