COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) - A 16-year-old Nebraska boy has been sentenced to 10 to 50 years in prison for the slaying of a man in western Iowa.
Pottawattamie County District Court records say Xavier Smith-Catchings, of Omaha, was sentenced Thursday. He'd entered a written plea of guilty Wednesday to a charge of second-degree murder. Prosecutors lowered the charge in exchange for his plea. He and three men were charged with killing Adam Angeroth in January.
The judge had ruled that Smith-Catchings' case remain in in district court because it was unlikely he'd be rehabilitated in the juvenile system. He was 15 when Angeroth was stabbed and beaten to death.
Iowa residents Nicholas Haner, of Harlan; Ryan McDonald, of Glenwood; and Liam Stec, of Omaha, Nebraska, were sentenced earlier last week to 35-50 years. They all pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after prosecutors lowered the charges.