Despite Collings' confessions, his attorneys tried to avoid the death penalty by arguing Collings was guilty of second-degree murder, not first-degree murder. Their arguments were that the murder was done on the spur of the moment, not premeditated.
After hearing arguments on motions for a new trial from defense attorneys, Circuit Judge Mary Sheffield followed the jury's recommendation and handed down a death penalty. Collings remained unemotional during the hearing. Unlike in the trial when he wore a beard and street clothes, he was clean shaven and in a jail uniform on Friday.
The other man charged with Rowan Ford's murder, her stepfather David Wesley Spears, is scheduled to go to trial in November in Waynesville.
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