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Life Sentence Handed Down in Tulsa Man's Death

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TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A Tulsa County judge has sentenced a man to life in prison without parole in the death of businessman Neal Sweeney.

Fred Shields was sentenced Monday for Sweeney's death. Last month, a jury convicted Shields of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for Sweeney's 2008 shooting death.

Shields received life sentences on both counts.

Prosecutors alleged that Sweeney was killed in a murder-for-hire plot, and convenience store owner Mohammed Aziz pleaded guilty earlier this year to soliciting the murder.

Prosecutors claimed that Shields helped connect Aziz with the alleged gunman, Terrico Bethel. A jury convicted Bethel in August of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to life in prison.