SC-BORN NEWSWOMAN KILLED IN OCT. 2008 AT LITTLE ROCK HOME

A jury in Arkansas has convicted a 29-year-old man in the October 2008 murder of South Carolina-born TV news anchorwoman Anne Pressly.

Curtis Lavelle Vance was found guilty of capital murder, residential burglary, rape and theft of property.

Vance attacked Pressly, 26, in her Little Rock home on Oct. 20 of last year and brutally beat her to death. Pressly, who was born in Beaufort, was an anchor at KATV and had a bit part in the President Bush biopic “W.”

Pressly’s mother discovered her murdered daughter after being unable to reach her by telephone. And according to the Associated Press, that discovery was horrific.

In closing arguments, deputy prosecutor John Johnson had recounted graphic testimony that left some in the courtroom in tears. At one point, he held up two photos of Pressly: Her KATV publicity shot, and one from her autopsy showing her nose pushed to one side.

“He made this person look like this,” Johnson said. A medical examiner had testified that the front of Pressly’s face was broken “like an egg.”

In various confessions made to police, Vance said he went to Pressly’s neighborhood looking to steal laptop computers. After entering her home through a Dutch door she left open for her dogs, Johnson said, Vance found the computer he sought — and Pressly.

The jury will reconvene later this week to decide whether Vance should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without parole. I’m not for the death penalty, but in this case, I can’t say I would really object.