The Latest: Jury begins deliberating life or death for dad

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The Latest on a death penalty trial for a South Carolina father (all times local):

1:30 p.m.

A jury in South Carolina has started deliberating whether a father gets the death penalty or life in prison for killing his five children

Jurors started discussing their decision around 1 p.m. Thursday.

If they don’t vote unanimously for the death penalty against Timothy Jones Jr., he will be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The same Lexington County jury convicted Jones last week of five counts of murder in the deaths of his children, ages 1 to 8, in their Lexington home in August 2014.

Prosecutors said death was the only just choice because life in prison would be like sending Jones to his room to think about things.

Jones’ lawyers asked for mercy because his family has already seen so much death and wants to still love Jones even through prison bars.

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11:45 a.m.

If jurors are unsure whether a South Carolina father should get the death penalty for killing his five children, a prosecutor says they should just consider the five garbage bags where he left their bodies in rural Alabama.

Solicitor Rick Hubbard told a jury Thursday that 37-year-old Timothy Jones Jr. deserves to be executed instead of getting life in prison, which Hubbard said would be like sending “Timmy to his room.”

Defense attorney Casey Secor asked jurors to punish Jones severely with life without parole, but show compassion for his family so they don’t endure any more death.

The same Lexington County jury that convicted Jones of five counts of murder for killing his children , ages 1 to 8, in August 2014 will deliberate his sentence.

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1:05 a.m.

A jury is expected to begin deliberating whether a South Carolina father is sentenced to death or life in prison for killing his five children.

Prosecutors and lawyers for Timothy Jones Jr. are scheduled to give closing arguments Thursday morning in the sentencing phase of his trial.

The same Lexington County jury that convicted him of five counts of murder last week must vote unanimously for the death penalty or Jones will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.

Jones killed his five children , ages 1 to 8, in their Lexington home in August 2014.

Jones’ lawyers say he deserves mercy because he was a good father with mental illness who snapped over drug use and single father stress.

Prosecutors say Jones is a selfish, angry man.