NC man accused of 3 slayings guilty in 1st trial

[November 09, 2011]  GASTONIA, N.C. (AP) -- A North Carolina man accused of killing three female acquaintances has been convicted of first-degree murder for the slaying of a teenager whose body was found in South Carolina.

Jurors in Gaston County took less than four hours Tuesday to find 49-year-old Danny Hembree guilty of killing 17-year-old Heather Catterton, whose body was found near Clover, S.C. He's accused of killing two other women, including another whose remains were found in South Carolina.

He will be tried separately in the other two cases.

Hembree testified last Friday that he didn't kill Catterton. He said the two smoked crack and had sex and when he woke up she was dead. He said he hid her body to avoid questions about his drug record.

A hearing on Hembree's sentence begins Wednesday.

[Associated Press]

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