Woman gets life in ambush slaying of soldier husband

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (AP) — The wife of a U.S. Army sergeant from Michigan who was convicted of plotting to kill her husband has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Twenty-two-year-old Kemia Hassel learned her punishment last Thursday. A Berrien County jury found her guilty of murder last month in the death of Sgt. Tyrone Hassel III. The 23-year-old was fatally shot in an ambush on New Year’s Eve while visiting family in St. Joseph Township.

Kemia Hassel chose not to speak at the sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors argued at trial that she planned her husband’s death so she could continue a romantic relationship with 24-year-old Jeremy Cuellar. All three were soldiers stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia.

Cuellar has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and faces a minimum sentence of 65 years in prison.