Des Moines man sentenced to 50 years for woman’s murder

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the 2018 shooting death of a Cambridge woman. The Des Moines Register reports that 22-year-old Jaquarious Scoggins was sentenced last week after pleading guilty in January to second-degree murder for the death of 25-year-old Mercedes Wathen. Scoggins must serve a minimum of 35 years before he’s eligible for parole. Scoggins was originally charged with first-degree murder in Wathen’s death. Police have said officers and medics called to a home just south of Des Moines on April 2, 2018, found Wathen’s body. She had been shot in the head.