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Gary Hilton gets life in prison for murder of hiker
By Rich Bowden, M&C Staff Writer Feb 1, 2008, 9:31 GMT
(M&C) - Gary Michael Hilton received a sentence of life imprisonment after pleading guilty to the January 4 murder of hiker Meredith Emerson.
Ms Emerson disappeared while on a bushwalk in the North Georgia mountains with her dog. Mr Hilton, 61, was seen in the company of the University of Georgia graduate and was charged with kidnapping with intent to commit harm and malice and murder.
"I feel that no punishment for Mr. Hilton is too great," said Ms Emerson's father David Emerson following the sentencing, "I only pray that he suffers immensely for his heinous acts."
During the hearing the court heard Dr. Kris Sperry, the state's chief medical examiner, opinion that Ms Emerson died of blunt force trauma to the head and was decapitated after death.
At a news conference following the hearing, Lee Darragh, Hall County District Attorney told reporters: "Anyone's emotional reaction would have appropriately be that this defendant deserved the penalty of death," however said the life imprisonment sentence was a "death penalty in and of itself."
He added with Hilton ineligible for parole until he was 91: "He will most likely die in prison and most certainly never see the light of day again."
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