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Sentencing set for former Early woman convicted in 2001 slaying

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December 5th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – A former western Iowa woman found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2001 shooting death of her 20-year-old neighbor is scheduled to be sentenced today (Monday) in Webster County District Court. A jury found 45-year-old Tracey Richter, of Omaha, guilty of killing Dustin Wehde at her former home in Early, to quiet him in a convoluted plot to kill her husband. The jury returned its verdict on Nov. 7 following a trial in Fort Dodge.

Richter claimed she killed Wehde in self-defense during a home invasion but prosecutors say there was no home invasion and that Richter lured Wehde to her house in early, had him write a notebook that her ex-husband had hired him to kill her and their son and then shot him to keep him quiet.

Richter faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.