OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Douglas County prosecutors have lost their bid to get more time behind bars for an Omaha man sentenced to 30 to 35 years in prison for strangling his girlfriend and then dumping her body in an open grave.
The Nebraska Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the sentence, saying prosecutors failed to show a judge was too lenient in sentencing 21-year-old Mikael Loyd earlier this year. After credit for time already spent in jail, Loyd could be paroled by the time he is 34.
Loyd pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in the August 2013 death of 19-year-old Melissa Rodriguez.
The appeals court said that while the sentence was not the maximum of life in prison, it "is well beyond the statutory minimum of 20 years."
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