Doniphan man gets life for 2007 murder

WEST PLAINS, Mo. -- A judge formally sentenced a Doniphan, Mo., man Tuesday morning to life in prison for murdering his neighbor, whose badly beaten body was found inside his trailer.

Presiding Circuit Judge David Evans sentenced Eddie Lee Marshall, 50, to life in prison without the possibility of probation or parole, according to a court official.

Marshall's attorney, Robert Wolfrum with the public defender's office, filed a motion for a new trial. The motion, the court official said, was taken up before sentencing and denied.

In May, a Phelps County jury convicted Marshall of first-degree murder in connection with the 2007 death of Heather Michelle Donnell.

Donnell's body was found inside Marshall's trailer by a Ripley County deputy investigating a missing persons report filed by the woman's family April 23, 2007. An autopsy showed the 25-year-old died of blunt force trauma to the head.

During the trial, the six-man, six-woman jury heard testimony from nearly 20 witnesses for the state and defense. It returned its guilty verdict in less than an hour.

After convicting Marshall, the jury didn't assess a punishment because Marshall was charged as a prior offender.

Since Ripley County Prosecuting Attorney Monte Phillips, who was not present for the trial or sentencing, had filed a notice of intent to waive the death penalty in Marshall's case, the only possible punishment Marshall could receive was life imprisonment.