(MT. VERNON, IL) — A 27-year-old Chicago man is scheduled to be sentenced this afternoon in Jefferson County Court for the murder of a Mt. Vernon woman and the subsequent arson of her home. Steven Murphy was convicted last month of strangling Tamara Malin to death in June 2015, before setting her house on fire with her body inside. The defense admitted during the September jury trial that Murphy was guilty of residential arson, but argued Malin was already dead at the time of the fire and blamed Malin’s death on one of Murphy’s friends. Prosecutors delivered evidence placing Murphy at the Malin home at the time of the murder and fire, as well as placing him in contact with Malin’s body, and a jailhouse confession testified to by a former inmate. The trial faced one hurdle, when a juror was dismissed for allegedly speaking with a family member of Malin. Murphy was initially charged in 2015 with aggravated arson and residential arson for the June 28, 2015 fire at Malin’s 301 Harrison Street home before being charged with her murder. He was convicted of Class 1 felony residential arson, and two counts first-degree murder. He remains in the Jefferson County Jail with bail set at $1 million on the murder charges and $250,000 on the arson charge.