Jury begins deliberating life or death for dad

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – A jury in South Carolina has started deliberating whether a father gets the death penalty or life in prison for killing his five children

Jurors started discussing their decision around 1 p.m. Thursday.

If they don’t vote unanimously for the death penalty against Timothy Jones Jr., he will be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The same Lexington County jury convicted Jones last week of five counts of murder in the deaths of his children, ages 1 to 8, in their Lexington home in August 2014.

Prosecutors said death was the only just choice because life in prison would be like sending Jones to his room to think about things.

Jones’ lawyers asked for mercy because his family has already seen so much death and wants to still love Jones even through prison bars.