By ADRIAN SAINZ Created: June 14, 2021 04:25 PM
RIPLEY, Tenn. (AP) - A convicted felon accused of raping and killing a Tennessee corrections administrator and then escaping from prison on a farm tractor was sentenced to life without parole Monday after striking a deal with prosecutors.
Curtis Ray Watson told a judge that he agreed to plead no contest to first-degree murder in the perpetration of a rape in the death of Tennessee Department of Correction administrator Debra Johnson, 64. He also pleaded no contest to aggravated rape, and guilty to seven additional charges, including aggravated burglary and escape.
Prosecutors had initially filed a notice to seek the death penalty should Watson be convicted at trial in connection with the Aug. 7, 2019 attack. Premeditated first-degree murder was one of the charges dropped under the plea deal. He is currently being held at a maximum security prison in the Nashville area.
Prison inmate enters plea deal in brutal murder of Tennessee prison administrator
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Tennessee inmate charged with murder of prison administrator to go before judge
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