GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - A man has been sentenced to 21 years in prison after pleading guilty to strangling a 31-year-old woman to death on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation.
The sentencing of 35-year-old Gavin Tyrone Sutherland on Thursday comes about a year after he was indicted in the July 2018 killing of Shannon Licht-Morsette after they had been drinking and arguing over money.
The Great Falls Tribune reports that Sutherland pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as part of an agreement with prosecutors. He told investigators that he killed Licht-Morsette after hearing voices in his head and seeing what he called a “shadow man.”
In court, Licht-Morsette’s mother, Maria Boe, demanded that a sobbing Sutherland tell her why he took her daughter’s life and called him selfish and a coward.
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Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com
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