TROY — An eastern Missouri man pleaded guilty to the December 2005 shooting death of his daughter's boyfriend in a dispute over $83 worth of scrap metal.
Oscar Walton Jr., 67, of Moscow Mills was to have gone on trial Tuesday in Lincoln County District Court. But on Monday he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Walton was originally charged with first-degree murder in the death of 31-year-old Michael Summers of Silex. The two men were loading scrap metal onto trailers and got into an argument over how much money was involved.
Prosecutors said Walton believed Summers had cheated him out of $83 in a previous scrap metal transaction, and opened fire with a shotgun he retrieved from his nearby home.