Iraq Veteran Courtney Lockhart to be Sentenced for Student's Death

Mike Gallagher

Mar 2, 2011 - 12:10

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Iraq Veteran Courtney Lockhart to be Sentenced for Student's Death

Eighteen-year-old Lauren Burk of Marietta was kidnapped on campus and shot to death when she tried to escape in March of 2008. A jury found the suspect, Courtney Lockhart, guilty in Burk's death Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010.

OPELIKA, Ala. - A Lee County judge is to sentence an Iraq War veteran to death by injection or life in prison without the possibility of parole for the abduction and shooting death of an Aubu University freshman.

Circuit Judge Jacob Walker has scheduled a sentencing hearing for 10 a.m. Wednesday for 26-year-old Courtney Lockhart.

Lockhart was convicted of capital murder for the March 4, 2008 slaying of 18-year-old Lauren Burk of Marietta, Ga.

Burk was kidnapped on the night of March 4, 2008 from a campus parking lot. Police investigators testified that Lockhart said he drove Burk around town before shooting her and leaving her to bleed to death on the side of the road.

Jurors voted 12-0 to recommend that he be sentenced to life without parole.