Denver bar killer Dexter Lewis will be sentenced to life

Dexter Lewis looks at family members seated nearby during the penalty phase of his murder trial, in Denver in this Aug. 12, 2015, photo.  (AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Dexter Lewis looks at family members seated nearby during the penalty phase of his murder trial, in Denver in this Aug. 12, 2015, photo. (AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

DENVER (AP) - Jurors have spared Denver bar killer Dexter Lewis the death penalty, and he will instead be sentenced to life in prison.

The jury made its decision Thursday. It's the second time in a month that a Colorado jury has decided against execution for a mass killer.

Lewis was convicted of five counts of murder for stabbing five people to death in a bar robbery in October 2012.

Prosecutors say Lewis led a four-man robbery at Fero's Bar and Grill. He was convicted of stabbing the bar's owner and four customers to death.

In August, a separate jury in suburban Arapahoe County rejected the death penalty for another mass murderer - Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes, who killed 12 people.

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