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Man convicted of murder in Birmingham couple’s 2019 slaying

A judge's gavel is shown in a file photo. (Credit: iStock / Getty Images Plus)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A man has been convicted of murder in the 2019 slaying of an Alabama couple found shot to death inside their home.

A jury in Jefferson County recommended a sentence of life without parole for 41-year-old Terrance Jermain Holder after finding him guilty Friday. The judge has not set a sentencing date, al.com reported.

Holder was convicted of killing 58-year-old Tommy Ervin Shyrie Sr. and 26-year-old Kristy Lynn Pickett. They were found shot to death in June 2019 after Pickett’s mother asked sheriff’s deputies to check on their home outside Birmingham because she had been unable to contact her daughter.

Investigators tracked down Holder, a homeless man who had been allowed by the slain couple to stay at their home. Evidence in the trial showed Holder confessed to the killings, but also implicated two other people.