Jury convicts man in slaying of University of Texas student
AUSTIN, Texas — A jury on Friday convicted a 20-year-old man in the 2016 slaying of a University of Texas freshman on campus.
Meechaiel Criner was found guilty of capital murder in the death of 18-year-old Haruka Weiser. Criner, a foster care runaway at the time of the killing, received an automatic life sentence. Because he was 17 at the time of the incident, he was ineligible for the death penalty.
He will be eligible for parole after 40 years.
Weiser, a dance major from Portland, Oregon, was walking to her dormitory after a rehearsal when she was strangled and sexually assaulted.