A Travis County jury sentenced convicted felon Laura Hall Tuesday to five years in prison for her role after the murder of Jennifer Cave in August 2005.

On Friday the same jury found Hall guilty of helping her ex-boyfriend and convicted killer Colton Pitonyak dismember Cave's body after he shot and killed her.

Laura Hall was found guilty of tampering with evidence, a third degree felony. For that, she could have received from probation to 10 years in prison, but the jury sentenced her to five years in prison. She was also found guilty of hindering apprehension, a Class A misdemeanor. For that she was sentenced to a maximum of one year. The sentences will be served concurrently.

The Cave family applauded the jury’s decision to sentence Hall to five years in prison.  Though it’s not the maximum 10 years the family wanted, Jennifer’s mother, Sharon, said they were satisfied with the decision.

“For right now, it’s done.  For now, Jennifer can just rest,” she said after sentencing. 

The prosecution and defense gave closing statements in the sentencing phase of the trial Tuesday morning.

Before the jury was brought in Tuesday morning, Hall's attorney asked the judge to put aside the guilty verdict, due to the fact that she did not take part in Cave's murder and there was no physical evidence she had tampered with the body.

Judge Wilford Flowers denied that request.

Only three witnesses were called to the stand for sentencing. One of them, Lauren Hall, broke down and cried as he described how his daughter was a good student, competitive swimmer and had planned to become an attorney. Hall wiped away tears as her father spoke.

He also described how her attitude and demeanor changed for the worse after she met Pitonyak, saying she started using derogatory language to describe other women.

Hall begged the jury to give his daughter probation, saying she's on the road to recovery.