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Hair salon shooter sentenced for killing 8 in Orange County

Posted at 11:59 AM, Sep 22, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-22 14:59:58-04

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KGTV/AP) - An Orange County man was sentenced to life in prison Friday for killing his ex-wife and seven others at the Seal Beach hair salon where she worked.

Scott Dekraai, 47, pleaded guilty in 2014 to eight counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

His case has dragged on for years due to a scandal over authorities' use of informants to cull information from Dekraai and others housed in the county's jails.

Prosecutors wanted Dekraai sentenced to death for opening fire in the Seal Beach salon in 2011. But a judge found authorities' repeated failures to turn over informant-related records jeopardized the killer's right to a fair trial and removed the possibility of a death sentence.