Man gets life for murdering family

ST. LOUIS -- A suburban St. Louis man who admitted killing his wife and two children by beating them with a frying pan and suffocating them has been sentenced to life in prison.

Steven Horne, 50, of Breckenridge Hills, entered his plea Friday over the objections of his attorney. His sentence does not qualify him for parole in the deaths of his wife, Sharon, 47; his son Matthew, 12; and his daughter, Anne, 10, at the family's home on June 18, 2003.

"I have no dispute about the facts of the case," Horne told St. Louis County Circuit Judge David Dee Vincent III after the judge detailed the charges against him.

Horne's attorney, Bill Margulis, had anticipated using the insanity defense for his client. But Horne said he was pleading guilty because he was sure what the verdict would be, and he wanted to get it over with.