The teenager who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the shooting death of a D.C. middle school principal received a sentence of life in prison Tuesday with all but 40 years suspended.
Alante Saunders, 19, was sentenced by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge John Debelius III, who accepted Saunders’ plea on Nov. 8 in the shooting death of Brian Betts in his Silver Spring home.
Saunders has acknowledged pulling the trigger after setting up a sexual encounter with the Shaw Middle School principal. Prosecutors have described the April 14 incident as “a robbery that went bad.”
On Tuesday, Saunders said the slaying was “truly an accident.”
