Life Sentence In Deaths Of Woman, Fetus

HASTINGS (AP) -- A judge in Dakota County has sentenced a Brooklyn Park man to two life sentences in the deaths of a woman and their unborn child.

A jury found Vern Jason Mouelle guilty Monday of two counts each of first-degree and second-degree murder in the deaths of 25-year-old Senicha Marie Lessman and their fetus. Lessman was eight months pregnant.

Judge Erica MacDonald handed down the consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The 25-year-old woman was killed in her Eagan townhome Jan. 24. A criminal complaint says her throat was cut and a cloth was stuffed in her mouth.

The victim's mother, Margi Lessman, said her daughter was a ``loving, kind, smart and beautiful young woman who was very excited to be a mother.''