Man gets life in prison in death of Korean War vet from Ste. Genevieve County

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- A Farmington, Mo., man has been sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for killing a Korean War veteran during a burglary.

Forty-eight-year-old Ronald Wright was sentenced Tuesday in the 2008 death of 77-year-old John E. Shaw of rural Ste. Genevieve County. He also was sentenced to 200 years for armed criminal action charge and life in prison for burglary.

Prosecutors say Wright beat Shaw to death with a sledgehammer while trying to rob him. The two men did not know each other. His wife, Jean, was able to get out of the house and hide until officers arrived.

The Park Hills Daily Journal reported that attorneys for Wright, a chronic meth user, argued that he was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis at the time of Shaw's murder.