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Suspect in 2013 Metro PCS murder pleads guilty, avoids death penalty

2017: After long wait, Shelby Farah has a headstone
2016: Victim's mother speaks out against the death penalty 

A man accused of murdering a 20-year-old while robbing a Jacksonville Metro PCS in 2013 pleaded guilty on Thursday to avoid the death penalty.

James Rhodes, 21, pleaded guilty to murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with Shelby Farah's murder.

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Rhodes was sentenced to life in prison without parole during an emotional hearing on Thursday morning.

Farah's mother Darlene sat in the front row of the court room and held pictures of her daughter.

State Attorney Melissa Nelson detailed how Rhodes went into the Metro PCS on North Main Street with a gun, demanded money and then shot Farah three times after she handed him the last bit of cash.

Rhodes had just been released from prison a few months before Farah's murder.

He served three years for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon before Farah's murder.

At one point during the hearing, Rhodes dropped to the ground and wept.

Farah told Rhodes she forgave him and said she'd been waiting for this day for three years and seven months.

She said waiting for the sentence was both a rollercoaster and nightmare.

For years before the hearing, Farah’s mother urged former State Attorney Angela Corey to take the death penalty off the table.

She said it would make her family endure a possibly years-long appeal process.

Corey said the law required her to seek death.

BREAKING: James Rhodes just pleaded guilty to shooting and killing Shelby Farah at Metro PCS in 2013. State attorney to hold press conference after hearing: http://bit.ly/2mwYCbM

Posted by Action News Jax on Thursday, March 2, 2017