15-year sentence for mother charged in death

CREATED Jul. 24, 2012

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SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) - A judge in Sequoyah County has sentenced an Arkansas woman to 15 years in prison in the death of her 1-year-old daughter.

A jury convicted 21-year-old Heather Jones of second-degree murder after her daughter, Elaine Keene, was fatally shot during a botched robbery. The Southwest Times Record reports (http://is.gd/WprPjZ ) that Jones cried after hearing the sentence Monday. Her father, Rickey Jones, told the newspaper that the sentence wasn't fair.

Prosecutors say Jones was the driver during the robbery when Elaine was struck by a bullet.

Under Oklahoma law, someone involved in the commission of a felony can be charged with murder even if he or she did not personally commit it.

The man who fired the fatal shot, 22-year-old Devin Jeremiah, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press