DUMAS, TEXAS -- Donald Lee Jameson, of Dumas, was sentenced to life in prison for murder, Friday afternoon.

Jameson was accused of killing Ronald "Ronnie" Whitfield, 57, on August 1, 2009. Whitfield's body was found in his vehicle with his throat cut at the intersection of 6th St. and Maddox in Dumas around 2:30 that morning. Autopsy results showed that Whitfield's throat had been cut three or four times,

Jameson later confessed his crime to investigators with the Dumas Police Department. Evidence showed that Whitfield was giving Jameson a ride home from a local bar when Jameson could not find his vehicle in the parking lot. The two men didn't know each other. It's believed that an argument between the two occurred which lead Jameson to attack Whitfield.

On Thursday, a Moore County jury found Jameson guilty of murder. The same jury heard punishment evidence Friday morning and handed down a sentence of life in prison around 1:30 p.m.

District Judge Ron Enns pronounced the sentence and remanded Jameson to the custody of the sheriff's department, to be taken to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to begin his life sentence.

Whitfield's murder was the first homicide the City of Dumas had seen in eight years.