Walter Jack Staten

At a contested sentencing hearing Wednesday morning (April 30), Walter Jack Staten of Sedalia, age 51, was sentenced to life in prison for the 2011 murder of William D. Saunders. The defendant pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and armed criminal action in the Circuit Court of Cooper County, Missouri in October as prospective jurors waited in the hallway for a trial.

Walter Jack Staten, 50, of Sedalia, pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and armed criminal action on Wednesday (Oct. 2) in the Circuit Court of Cooper County, Mo. He entered the pleas as prospective jurors waited in the hallway for a trial scheduled for Wednesday through Friday of this week.