BURLINGTON, Vt. -- The man convicted of killing a University of Vermont student after a chance encounter in Burlington has been sentenced to a mandatory life term with no chance for parole.
Thirty-eight-year-old Brian Rooney was convicted in May of aggravated murder in the 2006 slaying of Michelle Gardner-Quinn.
Judge Michael Kupersmith berated Rooney at his sentencing Friday. Rooney continues to proclaim his innocence, but the construction worker got what he deserved, Kupersmith said.
Rooney met the 21-year-old woman from Arlington, Va., when she borrowed his cell phone in downtown Burlington. She was found dead six days later after police and volunteers scoured the leafy, lakeside city. A hiker found her half-dressed body. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled.
