Jurors are suggesting that an Oklahoma man convicted of beheading his coworker receive the death penalty for his crime.
The jury reached a verdict after three hours of deliberation on Thursday, ruling that Alton Nolen, 33, should receive the death penalty for first-degree murder, KFOR reported.
The ruling is only a suggestion, as the presiding judge makes the final call.
Alton Nolen, 33, was found guilty of first-degree murder in September for beheading his coworker Colleen Hufford inside Vaughan Foods, a food production plant, on September 26, 2014.
He has already been sentenced to life in prison three times over and 130 additional years behind bars for stabbing Traci Johnson and attacking other workers inside the plant.
Nolen rammed his car into another car in the company parking lot, beheaded Hufford, and stabbed Johnson before Mark Vaughn, the company owner, shot Nolen in self-defense.
Cleveland County Assistant District Attorney Susan Caswell asked the jury to consider four factors in Nolan’s case in her closing arguments. She asked them to consider any violent felonies, evidence of him being a threat to society, whether his crime was cruel, and whether others were at risk of death.
“This was a decisive act not driven by a mental illness,” Caswell said. “I submit to you, he would do it again in a heartbeat.”
In 2014, Nolen reportedly told investigators that the Quran justified his actions under Islam and asked for the death penalty, according to Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn.
“He wants it, because he thinks something good is waiting for him on the other side. Give it to him, and let him find out,” Mashburn told the jury.
A judge is expected to have the final say on Nolen’s fate at a later date.
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