VIDEO: Man Sentenced to Life Behind Bars

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – It was a question of life or death Friday morning in a Lowndes County courtroom.

29-year old Joshua Taylor was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, in the 2011 shooting death of William Stallings.

A mother finally faces the man who took a son and father away six years ago.

William Stallings’ little girl was just a baby and is already missing out on milestones. The first one was her first father, daughter dance.

“She didn’t go, because you know why she didn’t go? Because her father wasn’t there.”

After Josie Porter expressed her pain to her son’s killer, she told him she forgave him.

Taylor sobbed as he told Porter sorry for what happened to her son.

“I just want to apologize.”

Taylor faced the possibility of life on death row, but instead, Porter wants him to have a chance to turn his life around.

“Today, Mrs. Porter decided after sitting through three days of trial and waiting six years, God put it on her heart that she didn’t want to go for the death penalty and I told her I would follow her will on that,” says District Attorney Scott Colom.

Colom says he’s glad to finally bring justice to Stallings’ loved ones.

“I think it probably brought her some relief because he did apologize, she saw a remorse, but again, I wish he would have plead guilty and accepted full responsibility.”

As the courtroom cleared, one family who buried their son, helped console another family who will never see their son walk as a free man again.

“I feel a bit bittersweet because there are no winners. Both families are loosing and lost,” says Porter.

Four other suspects are also facing charges in the case, but haven’t gone to trial.

One of those men is also charged with capital murder.

The other three are charged with accessory after the fact.