LAUREL, Miss. (AP) -- A judge has sentenced a Laurel man to life without the possibility of parole for sexual battery of a 12 year-old girl.
Roger Heidelberg was sentenced Tuesday by Circuit Court Judge Billy Joe Landrum, who called him a habitual offender.
It took a Jones County Jury only 20 minutes to return a guilty verdict against the 38 year-old Heidelberg Tuesday. It was Heidelberg's second trial in the case stemming from a 2007 incident.
The jury in the first case deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction.
Assistant District Attorney J. Ronald Parish said Heidelberg is a sexual predator and was previously convicted of burglary and of possession of a weapon by a felon.
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Information from: Laurel Leader-Call, http://www.leadercall.com
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
