Springfield man sentenced for beating death of girlfriend

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Springfield man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after entering an Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter in the 2020 beating death of his girlfriend. The News-Leader reports that 57-year-old John Schuck entered the plea last week in the death of 54-year-old Tammy Colbert. Prosecutors dropped a more serious charge of second-degree murder in exchange for Schuck’s plea to the lesser count. An Alford plea is one in which the defendant does not admit guilt, but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to get a conviction. Police found Colbert’s body inside her home in March 2020. She had injuries suggesting she had been assaulted, and Schuck admitted to investigators that he had hit Colbert several times in the face.