A Des Moines man convicted of murder last month was sentenced Friday to life in prison after the slain man s partner told the court the murder has forever changed her and her daughter s lives.
Stanley Wofford, 49, was convicted at trial of first-degree murder in the September 2019 death of John Belcher Jr., 45. Belcher was found shot to death in Wofford s home, and witnesses reported hearing an argument between several men, followed by gunshots.
Belcher s fiancee, Olivia Constantine, provided a statement that was read by court staff at Friday s hearing. Constantine spoke of their plans to marry and the difficulty of explaining his loss to their daughter, Makenna, who was only two years old at the time.
Man sentenced to life in prison for deadly Iowa shooting
April 24, 2021
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A man has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2019 shooting death of another man inside a Des Moines home.
The Des Moines Register reports that the sentence imposed Friday was the only one possible after 49-year-old Stanley Wofford was convicted last month of first-degree murder in the September 2019 death of 45-year-old John Belcher Jr.
Wofford was charged in the case nearly three weeks after the shooting, and police testified that it was Wofford who called 911 about half an hour after the shooting and claimed to have found Belcher’s body. Police said the evidence showed it was Wofford who did the shooting.
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