A Dallas County jury has given a man convicted of attempting to entice a 15-year-old boy for sex a life sentence after about three hours of deliberations.
Mr. Atkins' HIV status was revealed to jurors after they convicted him of attempting to entice the sexual performance of the 15-year-old.
One juror said despite the graphicness of the videos, the jury tried to focus on the facts of the case.
Any incident with a minor, there s nothing that can justify that, said John Savage of Garland.
About half the jurors had kids and some had grandchildren.
Mr. Atkins family left without commenting. But their pastor, Alex Horton, who attended the entire trial, said Mr.
Atkins was treated unfairly.
The family knows William Atkins has some problems, he said. At the same time, they think the judge turned this into a video case If Mr.
Atkins did not have those videos, if those videos had not been allowed, I don t think the punishment would be as great.
Prosecutors said they used the videotapes shot at Mr. Atkins' apartment to determine the number of people exposed to HIV.
They presented it as part of evidence in the punishment phase of his trial.
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