ALABAMA MAN GETS LIFE IN HIGH SCHOOL COACH’S SLAYING

FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) – A judge sentenced a north Alabama man to life imprisonment for the slaying of a volunteer high school coach whose body was thrown into the Tennessee River.

Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Mike Jones imposed the sentence on 31-year-old Jeremy Williams during a hearing Thursday in Florence.

Jurors convicted the man of murder in the death of Brioni Rutland, who was killed in November 2013. Rutland was a volunteer football coach at Deshler High School.

Evidence during a trial in November showed Rutland was stabbed multiple times and shot. His body was dumped into the river from an old railroad bridge.

Williams claimed he killed the man in self-defense after Rutland came to his apartment to collect a gambling debt. Williams told the judge the slaying wasn’t intentional.