A 27-year-old Indian-origin woman, convicted of arson leading to her husband's death two years ago, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in the US state of Texas.        

After long deliberations, a Travis County jury handed down the sentence to Shriya Patel yesterday afternoon, which was accepted by District Judge David Crain.        

Shirya (27) who faced the death sentence for allegedly killing her husband, Bimal, by pouring gasoline over him and setting him on fire, was, on March 10, found not guilty of capital murder by the jury.        

However, she was yesterday found guilty of first-degree felony arson and given a prison sentence of 20 years. She has served two years of incarceration thus far and will likely be eligible for parole in three years. Upon release from prison, she will face deportation.        

In the courtroom yesterday, she stared straight ahead as the verdict was read. Although her family was not in the courtroom, but local South Asian community members, who supported her for last two weeks of trial were there for her.        

More than a dozen friends of Bimal Patel, who also have sat through the proceedings, were absent. But after the jury's decision was read, a victim services counsellor read a direct statement to Shriya Patel from a close friend of Bimal Patel's who took the stand last week.        

Bimal's friends testified that Shriya loved another man and wanted to make him jealous. But Shriya's attorneys argued Bimal wanted to kill himself and forced her to help.