Alabama man gets death in shooting of 1-year-old daughter

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A judge has sentenced an Alabama man to die in the shooting death of his 1-year-old daughter.

Madison County Circuit Judge Ruth Ann Hall imposed the death penalty on 37-year-old Lionel Rory Francis on Thursday.

Jurors convicted Francis of capital murder in May. They recommended the death penalty for the 2016 gunshot killing of his 20-month-old daughter, Alexandria Francis.

Francis told police the shooting was accidental.

But a forensic expert testified that evidence indicated the gun was placed on the child's forehead. Jurors also heard a recorded phone call in which the girl's mother, Ashley Ross, dismissed the man's claims that the shooting was an accident.

Francis told the judge he is appealing.

Francis is the first person to be sentenced to death in Huntsville in more than a decade.