A Missouri man has been sentenced to 33 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing three people, including a toddler.

Twenty-six-year-old Joseph Nelson of Kansas City was scheduled to go to trial for the killings of 18-year-old Shannon Rollins Jr., 17-year-old Bianca Fletcher and Fletcher’s 1-year-old son, Joseph. Instead, he pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts of second-degree murder, armed criminal action and witness tampering.

Nelson was sentenced to 33 years, with three of those years added because he tampered with a potential witness by trying to persuade the person to say someone else killed the victims.

Prosecutors say the victims were killed in September 2015 after Nelson and Fletcher got into an argument and she threw a diaper at him.

Nelson killed Fletcher, then shot the toddler and Rollins.

Hammer, gavel for justice
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