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Killer of University City officer gets life in prison without parole

(via Flickr/davidsonscott15)

The man who shot and killed a University City cop on Halloween 2008will spend the rest of his life in prison.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 43-year-old Todd Shepard got two life sentences - one for shooting University City police Sgt. Michael King as King sat in his car near the Delmar Loop, and one for armed criminal action.

Shepard confessed on the stand last month that he had killed King because he wanted to spark an anti-government revolution.  A jury found him guilty, but could not agree on the death penalty, the punishment both St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch and King's widow, Susan had hoped for.

At the sentencing today, Susan King said "it was never about revenge for me. It was about justice for my husband," according to the Post-Dispatch.

Shepard is already serving a 23-year federal sentence for drug dealing. He'll start serving the state time after that.

Rachel is the justice correspondent at St. Louis Public Radio.