A Rusk County jury in Henderson has sentenced 20 year old Jesseca Bain Carson to life in prison with no chance of parole for killing her infant daughter with a hammer while supposedly trying to perform an exorcism.

After finding Carson guilty of capital murder earlier in the week, it took the jury 90 minutes to decide her punishment in the December 2008 murder of 13-month-old Amora Carson.

Carson’s boyfriend, Blaine Milam, has already been convicted of capital murder in the baby's death and he's on death row.

Prosecutors say the Carson was not an innocent bystander, but they didn't ask for the death penalty because they agreed Milam killed the toddler.

The rite of exorcism is still practiced in the Catholic Church and some Protestant denominations.  It’s part of their recognized religious freedoms, and courts have held that churches are not liable if someone is injured during a church sanctioned exorcism.

The jury ruled that Carson and her boyfriend were acting on their own when they tried to perform an exorcism that was not sponsored or sanctioned by a church.

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