Under a new law giving prosecutors greater discretion...

Under a new law giving prosecutors greater discretion in capital murder cases, a man on trial in Watauga County avoided a death sentence by agreeing to plead guilty to first-degree murder. Arthur Ashley Burton, 22, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in connection with the stabbing death of Kimberly Christeen Kammeter, 22, on Dec. 13, 1999. Burton had been charged with 1st-degree murder and 1st-degree burglary. Burton is the first person in North Carolina sentenced under a law signed by Gov. Mike Easley on May 17 that allows prosecutors the freedom to take the death penalty off the table in 1st-degree murder cases. Under the old law, prosecutors were required to seek the death penalty in such cases if just one of a list of "aggravating factors" existed.