Iowa inmate sentenced to life for murder dies - WGEM.com: Quincy News, Weather, Sports, and Radio

Iowa inmate sentenced to life for murder dies

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- State prison officials say an inmate serving a life prison sentence for murder has died of lung cancer.

Authorities say 63-year-old Wesley Betts, who was being housed in an out-of-state prison, died on Tuesday at a hospital.

Betts was sentenced in 1972 to life in prison without parole for first-degree murder in Scott County. According to the Quad-City Times, Betts was one of four Chicago men charged in the shooting death of a Davenport police officer in December 1971.

Betts was also sentenced to up to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder in Lee County. He was charged in the slaying of an inmate during a riot at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison in September 1981.

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