(CNN) -- A U.S. Army sergeant was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole for gunning down five fellow service members at a combat stress clinic in Iraq. The sentence handed down at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Washington, came after Sgt. John Russell pleaded guilty to the killings in a deal in which prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. Russell pleaded guilty to the May 11, 2009, killings at Baghdad's Camp Liberty, telling a military court last month that he "did it out of rage." The only question facing the judge, Col. David Conn, was whether Russell committed the slayings with premeditation, which the 48-year-old soldier disputed.
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A judge finds that Sgt. John Russell killed with premeditation
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Russell pleaded guilty to the May 2009 killings at Baghdad's Camp Liberty
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He opened fire at a combat stress clinic, killing five people
Russell, a communications specialist, was on his third deployment to @placeholder.