COVINGTON, Ga. -- A Covington woman who was convicted last week of murdering her mother in 2019 will spend at least the next 30 years in prison.

Carly Walden was sentenced Thursday, April 14, to life in prison with the possibility of parole, plus 16 years in prison, in Newton County Superior Court for the murder of her mother, Andrea Walker, in April 2019.

The additional years were ordered to be served consecutively to the life sentence, said District Attorney Randy McGinley. 

According to state law, a life sentence on a murder conviction means that the person must serve at least 30 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole, McGinley said. 

"All murder cases are difficult, but those involving family bring with them additional difficulties," McGinley said. "This conviction provides justice and some level of closure for Ms. Walker's family." 

The case stems from an April 28, 2019, incident in which Newton County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call about a penetrating trauma at 355 Alcovy Way and found Walker, 57, dead in a bedroom. 

Walden had called police, reported a shooting and claimed an unidentified man was responsible for her mother’s murder, according to court records. 

She claimed that some men she had brought home from a party that night had tried to rape her and her mother. An investigator then questioned Walden about the suspects' direction of travel but stopped when Walden said female companions of the men "had danced on top of the ceiling fan.”

Deputies took Walden, 37, into custody at the scene. She was arraigned on the charges in August 2019 in Newton County Superior Court and has been held without bond in the Newton County Detention Center since the incident.

She was able to win a Georgia Supreme Court ruling that a Newton County Superior Court judge wrongly ruled in 2020 that her statements to an investigator could be suppressed because she believed she already was in custody on the charges before she was read her Miranda rights. 

After a three-day trial, a jury April 7 found Walden guilty of all charges, including Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, Possession of a Firearm During a Felony, Possession of Methamphetamine, and Possession of Amphetamine.