Man Gets 32 Years In Prison For Murdering St. Cloud State Professor
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A northern Minnesota man was sentenced Friday to 32 years in prison for murdering a St. Cloud State professor.
Jason Beckman, 45, of Duluth, was sentenced to 386 months behind bars for second-degree intentional murder in the death of 68-year-old Edward Ward, the Stearns County Attorney's Office said.
Earlier this month, Beckman pleaded guilty to shooting Ward on June 20 in St. Cloud. According to investigators, police found Beckman shortly after the shooting and he admitted to killing Ward. Beckman did not know Ward, and police described his violent death as "random."
Ward had been a professor at St. Cloud State for more than two decades. The school called his death "heartbreaking."
