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Grand Rapids man sentenced to life in prison for 2nd slaying

Posted at 10:47 AM, Nov 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-16 10:47:31-05

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan man who already was imprisoned for killing his half brother has been sentenced to life in prison for a second slaying.

Twenty-three-year-old Royale Runyon was given the most-recent punishment Thursday in Kent County Circuit Court. Runyon was charged last year with murder in the December 2012 shooting death of a 20-year-old woman. He was convicted of first-degree murder in July.

Runyon, in a statement, maintained his innocence. He was 17 at the time of the killings.

Runyon already was serving a sentence of at least 30 years in prison for second-degree murder in the slaying of his half brother, 20-year-old Mahdi Hayes, five days after the woman was killed.

The woman was Hayes’ former girlfriend and police later connected him to her shooting death.