( CNN ) -- A jury sentenced an Arkansas man to life in prison without parole for killing a television anchor , officials said Thursday . The Pulaski County , Arkansas , jury on Wednesday convicted Curtis Lavelle Vance , 29 , of capital murder , residential burglary , rape and theft of property in the October 2008 slaying of Anne Pressly , 26 . Pressly , the morning news anchor for CNN affiliate KATV , was found beaten and unconscious in her home . She died five days later . Vance 's sentencing phase began after he was convicted Wednesday of capital murder , rape and burglary . Jurors were tasked with deciding whether the aggravating circumstances in favor of the death penalty outweighed the mitigating circumstances . `` Tonight , they have come back with a sentence , a sentence that they believe , and we share with them , is the harshest possible sentence for this gentleman going forward , where he will now spend the rest of his natural life in a 6-by-9 cell with nothing to think about but what he has done , '' said Guy Cannady , stepfather of the victim . `` It 's not until he 's carried out of Tucker Max in a pine box will he really meet his true judgment , '' Cannady added , referring to Arkansas ' Tucker Maximum Security Prison . He said he was not disappointed that Vance did not receive the death penalty . Prosecutor Larry Jegley said the jury gave Vance `` everything they could give him except the death penalty . '' Asked if there were too many mitigating circumstances , Jegley said , `` I do n't know . I ca n't speak for the jury . Cases like this , all you can do is put 'em in front of 12 good people and ask them to follow the evidence and do what their conscience demands . '' Attempts by CNN to reach members of Vance 's defense team were unsuccessful Wednesday and Thursday . `` There really are n't any winners tonight , '' Cannady said . `` Nothing that 's been done here will ever bring Anne back . We 'll never see her smile , we 'll never hear her laugh , we 'll never know the joy of her presence with us until we see her again in heaven . '' Among the defense witnesses presented Thursday was Vance 's mother , Jacqueline Vance Burnett , CNN affiliate KARK reported . Burnett cried on the stand as she spoke about her battle with crack addiction and admitted abusing her son when he was a child , including an incident when he was 7 years old and she slammed his head into a brick wall , the station said . A doctor testified earlier Thursday that Vance had told him school was easy for him before that incident , but difficult afterward . Both doctors said they believe Vance has frontal lobe damage to his brain as well as cognitive impairment , according to KARK . Vance was linked to the killing through DNA , however , and police said at the time of his arrest last year they were `` 110 percent '' sure he was guilty . He had given several statements to police , including one saying he was at Pressly 's home and another admitting to her murder . Defense attorney Steve Morley told CNN affiliate WREG as Vance 's trial began earlier this month that such evidence presented an obstacle for the defense , but said he hoped jurors could be persuaded to spare his client 's life . KARK reported that jurors heard recordings in which Vance apparently confessed to beating Pressly with a piece of wood . Pressly 's mother , Patti Cannady , told NBC last year her daughter fought hard for her life , breaking her left hand in the process . `` I found my daughter beyond recognition , with every bone in her face broken , her nose broken , her jaw pulverized so badly that the bone had come out of it , '' Cannady said . `` I actually thought that her throat had possibly been cut . Her entire skull had numerous fractures from which she suffered a massive stroke . '' DNA evidence has also tied Vance to a rape in April 2008 in Marianna , Arkansas , about 90 miles east of Little Rock , police said in December . CNN 's Carolina Sanchez contributed to this report .
Curtis James Vance , convicted in slaying of John Donovan , facing death penalty . Father , mother testify about Vance 's abuse as a child , possible brain damage . ` ` There really are n't any cops tonight , '' Pressly 's stepfather says of case .