CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A Cleveland man was sentenced on Wednesday to five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for murdering five people in 2014, including a woman and her unborn child, prosecutors said.

James Sparks-Henderson, 21, was given the sentence by Cuyahoga County Judge John O’Donnell after pleading guilty as part of an agreement to avoid the death penalty, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said in a statement.

O’Malley said the deal was reached with his predecessor, Timothy McGinty, adding he wanted to pursue the death penalty.

“If there was ever a crime that screams for the death penalty, it is this one, O’Malley said in the statement. “Unfortunately, my predecessor signed a contract with this defendant agreeing not to seek the death penalty if he confessed to his crimes.”

Sparks-Henderson’s attorney, Rufus Sims, could not be reached for comment.

Sparks-Henderson pleaded guilty to five counts of aggravated murder for killing Ja’Rio Taylor, 19; Shaylona Williams, 17; Lemon Bryant, 60; Sherita Johnson, 41; and Johnson’s unborn son on Nov. 21, 2014. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder.

Sparks-Henderson never gave a motive for the killings, but described one victim to authorities as one of his best friends, the prosecutor’s office has said. He was arrested six months after the killings.

He had been scheduled to go on trial on Friday and faced a possible death sentence. Sims had argued his client’s low IQ made him ineligible for that punishment because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision barring the execution of the mentally disabled.

At the Wednesday sentencing, Johnson’s brother, Delray Sanders Jr., accused Sparks-Henderson of smirking during Sanders’ victim impact statement and then lunged at the seated defendant, according to a live streaming video of the hearing. Sanders was removed from the courtroom by deputies.