FLORENCE, Ala. – A judge sentenced a north Alabama man to life imprisonment Thursday for the slaying of a volunteer high school coach whose body was thrown into the Tennessee River.
Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Mike Jones imposed the sentence on Jeremy Williams, 31, of Florence during a hearing.
Jurors convicted the man of murder in the death of Brioni Rutland, who was killed in November 2013. Rutland, 27, was a volunteer football coach at Deshler High School.
Evidence during a trial in November showed Rutland was stabbed multiple times and shot. His body was dumped into the river from an old railroad bridge.
Williams claimed he killed the man in self-defense after Rutland came to his apartment to collect a gambling debt. A criminal complaint alleged that when Williams said he did not have the money, Rutland threatened to “cut one of his fingers off every time he saw him until he paid him.”