USA - California. A jury sentenced Tyrone Harts to death

A Riverside County jury sentenced Tyrone Harts, 41, Black, to death, after a 2011 murder in which he shot his former girlfriend and lit her on fire in front of her children. In February 2011, Harts killed Brandi Morales in the Los Angeles-area home she shared with her six children. Officials said Harts had previously lived there, but the couple had split up several weeks before. Morales’ two oldest children were awakened by their mother’s screams on Feb. 21, prompting the oldest boy to grab a kitchen knife and go to her room, officials said. Harts shot at the boy, who ran away while the other four children woke up. At the time of the murder, Morales' children ranged in age from 6 to 15. The four younger children saw their mother lit on fire and attempted to put out the fire with cups of water, police said. Police and fire officials arrived and Morales was pronounced dead on the scene. She suffered first and second-degree burns over more than half of her body, officials said. He is ordered to be formally sentenced on Jan. 30.