FILE – In this Feb. 20, 2019 file photo, Jeremy Cuellar, center, appears for a preliminary exam on a charge of first-degree premeditated murder at the Berrien County Courthouse in St. Joseph, Mich. Cuellar, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the slaying of a U.S. Army sergeant from Michigan, was sentenced Monday, Sept. 23 to at least 65 years in prison. He was sentenced after earlier admitting to being a co-conspirator with Kemia Hassel in the New Year’s Eve 2018 death of her husband, Sgt. Tyrone Hassel III. (Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP, File)
ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (AP) — A man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the slaying of a U.S. Army sergeant from Michigan has been sentenced to at least 65 years in prison.
Jeremy Cuellar was sentenced Monday after earlier admitting to being a co-conspirator with Kemia Hassel in the New Year’s Eve 2018 death of her husband, 23-year-old Sgt. Tyrone Hassel III.
Cuellar apologized in court to Tyrone Hassel’s family, saying he was “a fool.”
Tyrone Hassel was fatally shot in an ambush while visiting family in southwestern Michigan. Kemia Hassel was earlier convicted of first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence.
Kemia Hassel and Cuellar reportedly were lovers and plotted the murder to collect Army death benefits and life insurance money. All three were soldiers stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia.
© Copyright 2019 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
