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Man convicted in workplace beheading gets death

Posted at 12:02 PM, Dec 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-15 13:02:23-05

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- The Latest on sentencing of an Oklahoma man convicted of decapitating a co-worker in 2014 (all times local):

10:10 a.m.

An Oklahoma judge has sentenced a man to death for beheading a co-worker at a food processing plant.

The Cleveland County judge on Friday accepted a jury's recommendation of the death penalty over life in prison without parole for 33-year-old Alton Nolen. Jurors earlier this year convicted him of decapitating 54-year-old Colleen Hufford in 2014.

Investigators said Nolen had just been suspended from his job at the Vaughan Foods plant when he walked inside the company's administrative office and attacked his co-workers.

His attorneys argued that he is mentally ill and that he believed he was doing the right thing because of his delusional misinterpretations of the Quran.

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7:25 a.m.

An Oklahoma judge is to decide whether to sentence to death a man convicted of decapitating a co-worker in 2014.

Jurors earlier this year recommended the death sentence for 33-year-old Alton Nolen after convicting him in the beheading death of 54-year-old Colleen Hufford at a food processing plant. A judge will decide Friday whether to follow that recommendation or sentence him instead to life in prison without parole.

Investigators said Nolen had just been suspended from his job at the Vaughan Foods plant when he walked inside the company's administrative office and attacked his co-workers.

His attorneys argued that he is mentally ill and that he believed he was doing the right thing because of his delusional misinterpretations of the Quran.

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