Jury Recommends Life Without Parole For Man In Hicks Park Murders

Jurors in the Darren Price double murder trial returned from deliberation Thursday night, handing down a recommended sentence of life without parole on both counts.

The jury had three options in the trial; life, life without parole or death.

The jury sent a note to the judge late Thursday afternoon wanting to know if they gave Price a life sentence for one murder, and a life without parole for the other murder, if he would ever be released.

2/12/2014 Related Story: Parents Of Victims, Price, Testify At Hicks Park Sentencing

The jury convicted Price of robbing and murdering Ethan Nichols and Carissa Horton in Tulsa's Hicks Park in 2011.

Prosecutors don't believe Price is the one who shot Nichols, and asked the jury for a life without parole sentence on that charge. They do believe, however, he is the one who shot Horton in the head, and asked the jury to sentence him to death on that count.

They said Price and another man, Jerard Davis, went to the park that night to rob someone; that's where they found the innocent couple. After taking their wallets, cell phones and car keys, prosecutors believe Price and Davis shot them in cold blood.

Defense attorneys maintain it was Davis, who shot both the victims, and that Price never pulled the trigger. They asked the jury to show him mercy, and spare his life. They talked about his terrible childhood, growing up abandoned by a crack addicted mother.

But prosecutors told the jury, millions of people have tough upbringings, but, they don't turn out to be cold blooded killers.

They said Price's life is one violent attack after another and that his violent ways didn't even stop during his trial. Prosecutors said he ordered an attack on a man who testified against him. They said he would never stop.