JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) - A southwest Missouri man who challenged his young nephew to a drinking game is going to prison for the boy's death from alcohol poisoning.
KOAM-TV reports (http://bit.ly/xwUzb8 ) that 29-year-old Dale Phillips, of Joplin, was sentenced Monday to 10 years for second-degree murder and five years for child endangerment. A Jasper County judge ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
Phillips was charged for the July 2009 death of 11-year-old Tyler Fecko.
The boy was staying at Phillips' apartment when the uncle and his girlfriend, Linda Petrait, included him in a drinking game. Tyler was found dead the next morning.
The two adults both pleaded guilty in the boy's death. Petrait was sentenced earlier to 13 years.