CARTHAGE, N.C., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- A 47-year-old North Carolina man was convicted Saturday in a shooting spree at a nursing home that left eight people dead.
Robert Stewart was sentenced to 141 to 179 years in prison after being found guilty of eight counts of second-degree murder and related charges for the March 29, 2009, shooting deaths of seven patients and a nurse, and wounding a visitor and a police officer at Pinelake Health and Rehabilitation Center in Carthage, WRAL-TV in Raleigh reported.
Prosecutor Peter Strickland said he was "disappointed" the jury didn't find Stewart guilty of first-degree murder, which would have made him eligible for the death penalty.
The jury deliberated for about 8 hours over two days, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Stewart's attorney, Jonathan Megerian, had contended his client had been in a hypnotic state at the time of the shootings after taking prescription medicines.
