JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Stanley Cole has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2007 slaying of his ex-girlfriend, Jackson State University student Latasha Norman.
Cole was scheduled to stand trial again next month in Harrison County. A judge moved the case from Hinds County because of media attention.
Instead, Cole entered the guilty plea Wednesday before Circuit Judge Jeff Weill. Weill sentenced Cole to 40 years - 20 years for manslaughter, 15 years for armed robbery and 5 years for aggravated stalking.
Weill says the sentences will be served consecutively. Cole will get credit of the six years he has been incarcerated.
Cole was convicted in 2010, but an appeals court threw out the conviction because jurors should have been allowed to consider convicting Cole of manslaughter as an alternative to murder.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.