Teen Makes Plea Deal in Teacher's Death

Crown Point, IN
A judge has accepted a Merrillville teen's guilty plea to a voluntary manslaughter charge in the slaying nearly a year ago of an 80-year-old Gary high school teacher.

The Times of Munster reports 17-year-old Royal Marshall received a 30-year prison sentence under the deal accepted Thursday by Lake Superior Court Judge Salvador Vasquez. Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of murder, robbery and auto theft.

Defense attorney Eric Clark says Marshall always wanted to accept responsibility and receive his punishment for the July 6, 2011, slaying of Anna Schulz in her Merrillville home.

Marshall told the judge last month that he cut the woman's neck with a knife while fleeing officers investigating a burglary.