The man accused of the brutal slaying of a pregnant Amish woman in her home last year will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Shawn Cranston, 53, was convicted last month of first degree murder in the death of 23-year-old Rebekah Byler, second degree murder for the death of her unborn child, and other related charges, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said. A judge on Monday sentenced him to life without parole for Byler’s killing plus an additional life sentence.

“This defendant committed a truly evil act, and is now held fully accountable as he will spend the rest of his life behind bars without an opportunity to ever again harm another person in free society,” Attorney General David W. Sunday Jr. said. “I commend the dedicated investigators and prosecutors for their work, and the jury that reached an appropriate verdict. My thoughts are with the victim’s family, whose quiet strength throughout the process has been inspiring.”

According to Law&Crime, the jury deliberated for just three hours before finding Cranston guilty. A probable cause affidavit said that authorities found Byler on February 26, 2024, “laying on her back in a pool of blood in the living room of the residence,” with her throat cut and a gunshot wound.

Byler’s 3-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter were in the home but were not physically harmed.

Cranston was arrested on March 1, 2024, as CrimeOnline reported.

Prosecutors called 24 witnesses in the course of the four-day trial, while the defense called none. One of the witnesses, a fellow inmate with Cranston, told the court Cranston told him he broke into the house but found Byler in the living room. When she began screaming, he attacked her.

“[He] spun her around and started choking her,” the inmate testified. “She didn’t pass out, so he slit her throat. He said she didn’t die quick enough, so he shot her.”

While the defense tried to discredit the state’s evidence, prosecutors presented a piece of a glove containing Cranston’s DNA, shoe prints and vehicle tire treads matching Cranston’s shoes and vehicle, and GPS data from Cranston’s vehicle that put him at the Byler residence, the attorney general’s office said.