SNOW HILL, Md.- A Worcester County Circuit Court judge on Thursday sentenced 24-year-old Justin Michael Hadel to 30 years behind bars for the 2007 murder of Christine Sheddy.
Sheddy, of Milford, Del., went missing from a Pocomoke City home in November 2007. The skeletal remains of the 26-year-old mother of three were found in March 2010 buried in a shallow grave behind a bed and breakfast in downtown Snow Hill.
Hadel, of College Station, Texas, was arrested and convicted for the crime in 2012 and was to serve life without parole. However, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled in Hadel's favor to reopen the case because Hadel had requested a new attorney before his trial but was denied.
However, rather than go to trial, Hadel last month agreed to plead guilty to first-degree murder. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to seek a life term with all but 30 years suspended, which the judge agreed to at Thursday's sentencing.
Sheddy's mother, Lynn Dodenhoff, said in a victim impact statement that it is her family that has been dealt a life sentence because of what Hadel did.
Hadel's attorney read a statement from Hadel to Sheddy's family, "I'm not asking for your forgiveness because I do not deserve it. But I truly am sorry."
If he is ever paroled, Hadel will have to serve five years of supervised probation.
Two alleged accomplices in the Sheddy case, Clarence Jackson and Tia Johnson, were given prison sentences in 2012 after being charged with being accessories after the fact in that they helped to move and conceal the victim's body after her murder.
