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Last updated on Monday, August 1, 2016
(SULLIVAN CO.) - A Sullivan County Superior Court Judge sentenced 33-year-old Johnus Orr of Sullivan for the murders of his stepsister Tiffani Adams and her unborn fetus.
Adams was eight-months pregnant with a baby boy when she was killed in November 2014. The baby was named Brynsten Edward Adams.
In June, after a weeks' worth of gruesome testimony, a 12-person jury found Orr guilty for the murders.
On Friday, Orr was sentenced to 60 years for each count of murder. The sentences will run consecutively for a total of 120 years behind bars.
"This is the culmination of a sad set of events. It's a sad situation," prosecutor John Springer agreed following the hearing. "Hopefully, the people who cared about Tiffanie take some comfort in the fact that he's being held accountable."
Adams was reported missing from Sullivan on November 5, 2014. Her body was found by a farmer in a corn field northeast of Sullivan on December 30, 2014.
An autopsy determined that she died of ligature strangulation, and that her unborn son died of suffocation due to the death of his mother.
Investigators believed Ort borrowed a vehicle, picked up Adams in Sullivan on the day she went missing, and that he took her to the area where her body was later found.
Evidence in the cornfield showed that there was a struggle between Adams and her attacker. Police say Orr strangled Adams with her own jacket.
Prosecution presented evidence after recovering Adams' cell phone from Sullivan Lake, near the area where her body was found. A forensic report about the calls and text messages sent from and to that cell phone helped connect Orr to the cornfield where her body was found.
During the sentence Judge Hugh Hunt gave more weight to prior convictions as aggravating factors. He pointed out that Orr has been charged with battery six times as an adult, and once as a juvenile. On at least three occasions, he was charged with battery against women. He also has multiple convictions for trespassing, as well as a drunken driving incident.
That criminal history shows that Orr is unable to control his emotions and actions, Hunt said.
Orr made no statements during the sentencing hearing, but his attorney John Kesler says his client maintains his innocence and plans to appeal his conviction and sentence.
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