Fantasy Decuir and Lamonte Mims, the pair behind the 2017 murder of an elderly photographer in Twin Peaks while attempting to rob him, have now been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

They were supposedly caught on camera committing the act, and were arrested two weeks later for a separate robbery at St. Mary's Cathedral Square, which is when investigators connected them to the killing.

Decuir and Mims were found guilty earlier this year. It was the second attempt at a trial, after the first trial ended in a hung jury specifically in regard to the charge of first-degree murder.

Attorneys representing Decuir, who is believed to be the one who fatally shot the victim, said she lacked the premeditation required for the first-degree murder charge to stick. According to them, she was in a “sickle cell cri­sis” and suf­fer­ing from opi­ate painkiller with­drawal, in addition to having a low IQ and poor mental health.

“She [was] mov­ing, but with­out con­scious thought," at­tor­ney Mark Iver­son told the jury.

Prosecutors argued that Decuir, along with Mims, plotted beforehand to go to a "target-rich environment," and that pain did not necesarily play a role in her actions.

“Be­ing in pain and mak­ing a bad de­ci­sion is­n’t the same [as be­ing] in so much pain that you are mak­ing no de­ci­sions," said pros­e­cu­tor Aaron Lay­cook.

Decuir is not known to have a criminal history before the killing. Mims, however, had been previously convicted of car buglary, and was out on parole at the time for unrelated gun charges due to a mistake made by the San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project.

"A data in­put er­ror led to their al­go­rithm gen­er­at­ing an er­ro­neous rec­om­men­da­tion [for the presiding judge] to re­lease Mims," wrote San Fran­cisco Pub­lic Safety News.

Photo by Emiliano Bar on Unsplash