Mo. man pleads guilty in 2009 killing

HARRISONVILLE, Mo. (AP) - A western Missouri man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his children's mother.

Michael Adams Jr. of Belton pleaded guilty Tuesday in Cass County Circuit Court to one count of second-degree murder in the 2009 death of 36-year-old Amber Hartwig.

Hartwig was the mother of Adams' two children. The Cass County prosecutor's office said Adams also pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful use of a weapon. Prosecutors dropped another charge of armed criminal action as part of a plea agreement.

In addition to the 15-year sentence on the second-degree murder charge, Adams was also sentenced to four years on the weapon charge. The sentences were to run concurrently.