Guy Heinze Jr. Was sentenced today less than a week after a jury found him guilty of malice murder in the August 2009 deaths. Prosecutors spared 26-year-old Heinze from a possible death sentence last week as part of a deal with defence attorneys.
Under Georgia law, Heinze faced an automatic life sentence once the death penalty was not an option.
Heinze's attorneys say he's innocent.
In a frantic emergency call made the morning the bodies were discovered, Heinze cried out: "My whole family is dead!"
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Each of the victims died from multiple crushing blows to the head. The murder weapon was never found.
The attack happened in the middle of the night, and most of the victims were found in bed. Defence attorneys argued a single assailant couldn't possibly have inflicted such carnage. They insisted that police ignored evidence and alternate suspects in a rush to accuse him.