JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — An Oklahoma man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in a shooting death in Joplin.
Eighteen-year-old Elijah Taylor, of Tulsa, was sentenced Monday for second-degree murder in the July 2012 death of 23-year-old Jacob Wages. He also was sentenced to five years for burglary, to run concurrently.
Taylor was one of five young men charged in Wages’ death. He was 16 at the time of the murder but was tried as an adult. Testimony indicated the men broke into Wages’ home because they mistakenly believed he had Ecstasy pills and cash.
The Joplin Globe reports Taylor and two other suspects have accepted pleas in the case, a fourth was convicted of second-degree murder and the fifth is awaiting court proceedings.