BARTOW, Fla. (AP) _ A central Florida man will spend the rest of his life in prison for stabbing a homeless man and dumping his body in a citrus grove.
The Ledger of Lakeland reports 26-year-old Steven Mark Rios pleaded guilty on Wednesday to first-degree murder in exchange for prosecutors dropping the death penalty.
In a hearing Rios asked lawyer Richard Watts to apologize to the victim’s family for him.
Watts then turned to the family and friends of 32-year-old Ggeral Lamar Stoudemire and told them Rios “is sorry from his heart.”
Prosecutors say Stoudemire accused Rios of stealing drugs from him on Sept. 21, 2013.
Stoudemire had accused Rios of stealing drugs from him.
Rios stabbed Stoudemire, put his body in the trunk of his car and drove to the grove.
