GULFPORT- Harrison County Circuit Court Judge Lisa Dodson sentenced a man to death for the sexual assault and hanging of 5-year-old Janaya Makayia Thompson.
Alberto Julio Garcia, 32, was given the death penalty for sexually abusing and hanging Thompson by one of her socks. He was sentenced on Wednesday after a guilty plea on Jan. 18.
The incident occurred in 2014. Thompson’s body was found in an abandoned trailer that July.
Garcia could have been sentenced to live without parole.
