By Associated Press - Tuesday, September 16, 2014

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - A sergeant at Fort Hood has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting another man during a party last year at a home on the Central Texas post.

A plea deal capped the sentence Monday for 27-year-old Brett Wessel if he pleaded guilty to nonpremeditated murder. The Killeen Daily Herald reports (https://bit.ly/1wo09fF ) he was demoted to the rank of private and dishonorably discharged.

Testimony before a military judge revealed Wessel was drunk when he left the party last September to retrieve a handgun at his home and returned to shoot Ryan Dickinson in the chest. The two had argued earlier.



Wessel, the father of three children with a fourth due in December, tearfully apologized to Dickinson’s family Monday. Dickinson, a retired soldier, had two children.

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Information from: Killeen Daily Herald, https://www.kdhnews.com

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