Stanley Liggins sentenced to life in prison in 1990 killing of 9-year-old Quad Cities girl
Austin Cannon
An Iowa judge on Thursday sentenced Stanley Liggins to life in prison for the murder of 9-year-old Jennifer Ann Lewis nearly 30 years ago.
Liggins, who was convicted in April, will not have the possibility of parole, Scott County Attorney Mike Walton said. His motion for a new trial was also denied.
Lewis had left her Rock Island, Illinois, home to buy gum at a nearby liquor store on Sept. 17, 1990. Her body was later found burning near an elementary school playground in Davenport. She had been raped and strangled before being set on fire with gasoline.
Previously:Do Iowa police have right man in grisly killing of 9-year-old? Fourth trial will try to answer
Liggins was tried four times in the killing. A pair of convictions in the 1990s were subsequently overturned because of prosecutorial errors. A third trial ended with a hung jury last fall.
The Quad-City Times reported that Lewis' mother, Sheri McCormick, said "I hate you, I hate you" to the 57-year-old Liggins in the Scott County courtroom on Thursday.
Liggins had already been convicted of sexually abusing a minor in Illinois.