Man gets 10 years in 1974 killing

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A 70-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for the death of a woman 28 years ago, even though the judge who sentenced him said a jury might find him innocent.

"I have heard here today information that, if heard by a jury, could very well create reasonable doubt," Jackson County Circuit Judge J.D. Williamson said before sentencing Billie Joe Buster.

Williamson offered Buster a chance to withdraw his guilty plea to a manslaughter charge and take the case to trial. Buster, who has emphysema, heart problems and high blood pressure, declined the offer after consulting with his public defender, Randall Schlegel.

Buster confessed last year to killing Gaile Skurlock, a motel manager who was his lover, in 1974. He pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter, reduced from a charge of second-degree murder.