CENTRE — A little over two years ago, a frightened Cherokee County resident sprinted for her life in a field near the Georgia line. Two weeks ago in the courtroom of Circuit Judge David Rains, the woman who ran Darlene Roberts down and fired three shotgun blasts into her body at point-blank range got much better than she gave.

Darlene Roberts “was chased down like an animal,” attorneys from the office of District Attorney Mike O'Dell told a jury in the Cherokee County Courthouse during the week-long trial in June. Jurors deliberated less than an hour before returning with a guilty verdict and an 11-1 vote for death by lethal injection.

Instead, on Aug. 29, Judge Rains sentenced Barbara Ann Roberts to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Last Friday, O'Dell told The Post he was still trying to understand that decision.

“I must say that I was disappointed in the sentence handed down by Judge Rains rejecting the recommendation of death by the jury that heard the evidence,” O'Dell said. “It is important to note, however, that each of us had a job to do. We did ours, the jury did theirs, and the judge did his. I have great respect and admiration for Judge Rains.”

O'Dell said it is not the first time he has disagreed with Judge Rains over the past three decades. He added that he respects the judge's decision despite his disappointment.

“I believe he did what he believed to be fair and just,” O'Dell said. “I would like to say that I also have the utmost respect and admiration for the jury in this case. They showed tremendous courage and wisdom in their handing down a recommendation of death for Barbara Ann Roberts.”

Roberts was convicted on June 27 of three counts, including charges of robbery, kidnapping with intent to harm, and kidnapping with intent to terrorize.

The jury found Roberts guilty of capital murder on the two kidnapping-related charges and guilty of non-capital murder on the robbery-related charge.

During closing arguments, O'Dell and Assistant District Attorney Bob Johnson wove together a harrowing narrative of rage, obsession and pre-meditated murder that implicated Barbara Ann Roberts and her accomplice, Dr. John Robert Scheiss, III.

The state later dropped murder charges against Scheiss after he agreed to plead guilty to kidnapping. He was sentenced to serve 15 months in jail and could be eligible for parole as early as Christmas 2010.

The prosecution team used a video-taped jailhouse confession, as well as forensic and crime scene evidence, to convince the jury of Barbara Ann Roberts's guilt. The murder weapon was never recovered.

“I have asked for the death penalty in only three cases during my entire prosecutorial career,” O'Dell said. “This was one of them, and there is no doubt in my mind that death was an appropriate sentence for her."