Eighteen years to life.

That was the sentenced handed down Wednesday in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court for Carlos Jenkins, the Ironton-area man convicted last week of murder in the September 2004 death of John Turvey.

Judge Richard Walton imposed the maximum sentence allowed under Ohio law: 15 years to life on the murder conviction and an additional three years that is mandatory when a person is convicted of using a gun in the commission of a crime, commonly known as a firearm specification. Since those sentences are to run consecutively, Jenkins will not be eligible for parole for 18 years. That means Jenkins, who is 39, will not see a parole board before he is 57 years old.

Lawrence County Prosecutor J.B. Collier said he was satisfied with the verdict, noting that Jenkins has never expressed remorse for what happened. "There have been no comments from him at all or from his family," Collier said. "He has not even changed his expression."

At the sentencing, Turvey's sister, Beverly Johnson, told the court how the death of her brother had affected the Turvey family and asked that Jenkins go to prison for the rest of his life.

Before the sentence was handed down, Jenkins' attorney, David Reid Dillon, asked Walton to set aside last week's conviction. Ohio law does allow judges this option; Walton refused to do so.

Dillon and the private investigators who worked on Jenkins' case have pledged to continue working to exonerate Jenkins. They maintain someone else is responsible for the Turvey murder.

Dillon was not available for comment.