Hit man pleads guilty, gets life sentence

ST. LOUIS -- A stripper and gang member hired to kill a suburban St. Louis woman in her home last summer has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

Michael A. Clark, 32, pleaded guilty Friday in the slaying last July of Janice Kapeller, 39. Clark was sentenced to life in prison on the murder charge and to a concurrent 30-year term on an armed criminal action count. He will be eligible for parole in about 25 years.

Prosecutors said Clark was hired by Christopher Kapeller, 43, to go to the victim's home and kill Kapeller's estranged wife by slashing her throat.

Last week, a St. Charles County jury convicted Kapeller of first-degree murder. In a deal to avoid getting the death penalty, Kapeller then confessed and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A burglary charge against a 31-year-old man who drove Clark to the scene was dismissed because prosecutors said they couldn't prove he knew about the crime.

Clark initially was charged with first-degree murder but testified against Kapeller in exchange for a lesser murder count. During Kapeller's trial, Clark told jurors Kapeller offered him $11,000 to commit the crime.

Prosecutors said Kapeller wanted the collect more than $388,000 in life insurance after his wife's death.

"I'm not in his fan club -- he did commit a murder," prosecutor Philip Groenweghe said Friday of Clark. "He has at least been willing to take more responsibility than Kapeller has. Clark told us the truth from the beginning."