Man gets 10 to 24 years in ex-girlfriend’s slaying

Man gets 10 to 24 years in ex-girlfriend’s slaying

SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 10 to 24 years in prison in the death of his former girlfriend a year ago.

Twenty-four-year-old Jonathan Beal of Meyersdale pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Somerset County in the September 2012 death of 19-year-old Justine Jackson.

Beal also pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence for burying the victim’s body in a shallow grave near the Great Allegheny Passage hiking and biking trail.

Public defender Steve Miller said his client didn’t mean to kill Jackson when he put a chokehold to subdue her when their argument about whether to reconcile became physical.

Although his attorney said Tuesday that Beal was remorseful, District Attorney Lisa Lazzari-Strasiser said she saw no sign of remorse on the defendant’s part.