WARREN — A Warren man convicted in the April 2005 killing of a man in a wheelchair has been sentenced to death.
Bradley County Circuit Court Judge Bynum Gibson on Thursday sentenced Gibson Derek Sales, 46, to death, following a jury's recommendations. A jury deliberated about two hours before returning with the death sentence, said Prosecutor Thomas Deen.
The jury convicted Sales of stabbing and strangling Willie York, 56. Sales also received a life sentence on an aggravated robbery charge.
Police said they found Sales in York's home the day after the April 16, 2005, killing.
Sales was already serving 75 years in prison before a Christmas Eve 2005 escape from a Warren jail. He and another prisoner overpowered guards with pepper-spray and a sock loaded with bars of soap. Police captured Sales shortly after his escape.
Deen said Sales had previously been in prison for other convictions, including rape and kidnapping.