Man who killed Georgia worship leader during prayer service sentenced to life in prison

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Court tile

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. (AP) - A jury in Georgia has convicted a man of murder in a 2012 shooting during a prayer service at a megachurch in metro Atlanta.

Local news outlets reported Friday that Floyd Palmer was found guilty but mentally ill in the October 2012 shooting of Greg McDowell at the World Changers Church. A Fulton County Superior Court judge sentenced Palmer to life in prison with no chance of parole.

Prosecutors say Palmer shot McDowell, a praise leader at the church, 12 times during a prayer service. No one else inside the church was injured.

Palmer's attorney, Marissa Goldberg, said her client "had insane thoughts in his mind."

Palmer had been committed to a psychiatric hospital in 2004 after pleading not criminally responsible to a shooting outside a mosque in Maryland.

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