Former school principal Cornelius Green was married when he hired a hitman to kill his teacher girlfriend, who was seven months pregnant with his child, he admitted in court.
A former middle school principal in St. Louis has pleaded guilty to hiring a hitman to kill his pregnant girlfriend, a teacher at another school who was seven months along, federal authorities announced Wednesday.
Cornelius Green was married when he allegedly hired a longtime friend to shoot Jocelyn Peters in the head, prosecutors said.
In exchange for his guilty pleas to charges of murder for hire and conspiracy to commit murder for hire, Green is expected to be sentenced to life in prison, federal officials said. If he receives that sentence, two local counts of first-degree murder will be dropped, authorities said.
Green paid for the killing with $2,500 in cash he had stolen from his employer, Carr Lane Visual and Performing Arts Middle School, prosecutors said.
According to federal authorities, Green gave that money to his friend, Phillip Cutler, as payment for shooting to death his 30-year-old girlfriend, who was more than 27 weeks pregnant. Cutler allegedly fired one round into Peters as she was lying in bed, and used a potato as a silencer, prosecutors said.
Cutler has pleaded not guilty to the same charges Green faced, and his trial is scheduled to begin later this month. According to local reports, Cutler refused the same plea deal offered to Green on Wednesday.
Green is scheduled to appear on June 5 for his sentencing hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Ronnie White.
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