Jurors to decide sentence in trial of NC soldier convicted of murder in 3 slayings

Sentencing phase to conclude in NC slaying case

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Defense lawyers for a soldier convicted of murder in the slayings of a North Carolina mother and her two children will try to convince a military jury not to execute him.

The military jury considering whether to sentence Master Sgt. Timothy Hennis to death or life in prison will hear from the defense Monday. Prosecutors presented their case Friday.

Hennis was convicted Thursday of killing Kathryn Eastburn and her young daughters in their Fayetteville home in 1985.

Hennis was first convicted in state court, but appealed and was acquitted in a second trial. The case was turned over to the Army after investigators examined DNA evidence that couldn’t be tested in the mid-1980s.