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GREENSBORO — Jurors sent a Greensboro man to death row Tuesday for killing a mother after raping her in front of her children in 2006.

Tony Savalis Summers, 36, was convicted last week in the Nov. 7, 2006, stabbing death of Lavell Williams at her McIntosh Street apartment. He also was convicted of two counts of rape, four counts of kidnapping and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

Jurors had deliberated the sentence since Thursday afternoon and asked at one point to review more than a dozen pieces of evidence.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty in the case because Summers had a previous conviction for a sex offense, the murder was committed during the commission of other felonies and because of the “heinous” and “atrocious” nature of the crime.

Williams’ three children, ages 16, 11 and 5 at the time, were home and were forced to watch their mother be repeatedly raped, according to testimony. The two oldest were also stabbed but survived.

Jurors were asked to hear evidence in two phases. The first was to determine whether Summers was guilty of first-degree murder. The second phase was to decide whether he should get life in prison without parole or the death penalty.

The defense had argued that Summers suffered from frontal lobe brain damage, which affected his ability to reason and made him more impulsive. He likely was injured during seizures as a child, but he also suffered from abuse and neglect, witnesses testified.

On the night of the murder, Summers also was intoxicated and high on cocaine, according to testimony.

Medical experts testified that alcohol would have made him more impulsive and cocaine would have fueled aggression.

The prosecution argued that Summers knew exactly what he was doing.

Read more in Wednesday’s News & Record or E-edition.

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com