FORT HOOD, Texas – 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 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, http://www.kdhnews.com
