A New Mexico man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing a formerly homeless man who began consuming alcohol in a couple's home after having agreed to not do so.
The Alamogordo Daily News reports that 31-year-old Lawrence Tarbert was sentenced Tuesday.
Tarbert pleaded no contest in June to first-degree felony murder and other charges in the 2011 shooting death of 25-year-old Joseph Glen Pruitt of Sheffield, Ala.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Davie Ceballes said Tarbert and his wife befriended Pruitt and told Pruitt he could live in their house but not to bring any drugs or alcohol into the house.
Ceballes says an investigation indicates that Ceballes began consuming alcohol and that Tarbert "took matters in his own hand" rather than evict Pruitt.
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