Springfield man sentenced to 2 life terms for 2 killings

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Photo: Willie Haughton. Photo: Courtesy  Greene County jail via Springfield News-Leader

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A Springfield man has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms for killing two men in the same week in 2018.

Twenty-seven-year-old Willie Haughton was sentenced Thursday for two counts of first-degree murder for killing 30-year-old Lance Loveless and 49-year-old Robert Hewitt. The two men were both found shot to death in their cars.

Prosecutors say Haughton killed Loveless on March 27, 2018, in order to steal his gun. He shot Hewitt with the stolen gun five days later, possibly because he felt Hewitt had disrespected his friend.

Haughton was on bond at the time in an unrelated felony domestic assault case involving allegations of choking and was linked to the first killing through GPS plotting data, prosecutors say.

Haughton also was convicted of several other charges including robbery, armed criminal action and failure to appear.

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