In a plea deal that allows him to avoid a possible death penalty, a northern Virginia man has admitted he raped and killed a Muslim teenager last year.

Twenty-five-year-old Darwin Martinez-Torres of Sterling entered the guilty plea Wednesday in Fairfax County in the June 2017 murder of 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen of Reston. She had been out with a group of friends eating a pre-dawn meal at a fast-food restaurant ahead of Ramadan services.

Martinez-Torres was driving by and got into an altercation with the group.

Wednesday’s plea deal imposes a life sentence without possibility of parole.

Nabra’s death attracted widespread attention amid concerns that her slaying was motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment, though police have said repeatedly they have no evidence of a hate crime.
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