A three-judge panel has sentenced Arthur Lee Gales to death for killing two children. It is the second time Gales has been sentenced to death for the crime.

A courtroom bailiff confirmed that district judges Robert Steinke of Columbus, Brian Silverman of Alliance and Gerald Moran of Omaha handed down the death sentence Tuesday.

A jury decided in October that Gales' crimes merit his death in the electric chair.

Gales was convicted to two counts of first-degree murder for the strangulation deaths of 13 year old Latara Chandler and seven-year-old Tramar Chandler on Nov. 12, 2000. Latara also had been raped.

Gales also was convicted for brutal beating of the children's mother, 36-year-old Judy Chandler.

Gales had been on death row, but the state Supreme Court ordered him to be re-sentenced in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year. That decision said juries, not judges, should determine whether circumstances exist to merit the death penalty.