WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Carla Hughes sentenced to life in prison

Carla Hughes sentenced to life in prison

By David Kenney - bio | email

CANTON, MS (WLBT) - Former Jackson school teacher Carla Hughes will spend the rest of her life in prison for the murder of Avis Banks and her unborn child.

A jury in Canton handed down the verdict just before 6 o'clock Wednesday evening.    

It took the jury less than an hour to make the decision to spare Carla Hughes life.

The last day of testimony was emotional for Hughes who spent most of the day crying at the defense table.

Her adoptive parents, Linda and Carl Hughes described her as a perfect child and asked jurors to spare her life.

Her attorney, Johnny Walls, made a tearful plea for mercy with jurors in closing statements saying, "If you decide to kill her, there's nothing you can do bring her back, and if you later determine that someone else committed this crime, you won't be able to correct that." 

For Avis Banks' parents and family, the life sentence brought closure, after three years of searching for peace, since her brutal murder in 2006. 

Prosecutors told jurors the brutal way Banks and her unborn child were killed, shot and stabbed multiple times, the case warranted capital punishment.

Madison County District Attorney Michael Guest told reporters his office did their job in providing the Banks family with resolve.

Carla Hughes turned down two opportunities to take the stand in her own defense.

Throughout the trial, her attorneys tried to blame her then boyfriend and Avis Banks' fiance, Keon Pittman, for the murder.

Jurors never heard her version of what happened that November night in 2006, but could if she's granted a new trial.

Her attorneys plan to file an appeal on the jury's verdict within ten days.