Middle school principal sentenced for murder-for-hire plot to kill teacher and her unborn child

A former St. Louis, Missouri middle school principal was sentenced to two consecutive life terms for orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot that led to the deaths of a schoolteacher and their unborn child, federal prosecutors announced.

Cornelius M. Green, 42, pleaded guilty in a Missouri federal court in February to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and one count of murder-for-hire in the deaths of 30-year-old Jocelyn Peters and her unborn child, Micah Leigh, in 2016, according to a Justice Department news release.

A judge in the Eastern District of Missouri sentenced Green on Tuesday.

Green, who was principal at Carr Lane Visual and Performing Arts Middle School in St. Louis, stole money from the school dance team’s fundraiser to pay his longtime friend $2,500 to kill Peters and their unborn son Micah on March 24, 2016, according to a guilty plea agreement document.

"He literally stole from children to pay for killing his own child,” Nicole Conaway, the principal of Mann Elementary when Peters worked there, said in a sentencing letter.

One of Green's attorneys, Nicholas Williams, told USA TODAY in a statement that "Mr. Green understood his choices and made the one that did not compound the tragedy of this situation.”

How did Cornelius Green plan the murders of Jocelyn Peters and Micah Leigh?

Green and Peters were romantically involved, although he was still legally married and seeing other women, according to the guilty plea agreement court filing. At the time of Peters' death, she had recently turned 30 and was more than 27 weeks pregnant with Green's child, the documents continued.

Peters had miscarried before and terminated one pregnancy at Green’s insistence, but was determined to keep Micah Leigh, according to a sentencing memo filed by prosecutors, per the release. Peters was under the belief she was the only woman Green was seeing and that he planned on divorcing his wife, prosecutors said.

During this time, Peters also did not know Green was researching ways to kill her and their unborn child including secretly poisoning her by crushing pills and hiding them in oatmeal or yogurt, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Once Green's plan to poison Peters failed, he called his friend and co-defendant, 46-year-old Phillip J. Cutler, the Justice Department news release said.

Cutler, who lived in Oklahoma at the time, and Green planned the murder through a series of cell phone calls, according to the guilty plea agreement documents. Green used the address of Carr Lane Middle School to send Culter a UPS package on March 7, 2016, containing $2,500, the court filings say.

Once Cutler received the payment on March 8, 2016, he agreed to kill Peters and Micah, according to the plea documents. Cutler drove from Oklahoma to St. Louis on March 21, 2016, and stayed at Green's home, the documents continued.

How were Jocelyn Peters and Micah Leigh killed?

Green took the Amtrak to Chicago and left the keys to his 2013 Kia Optima sedan and Peters' apartment with Cutler on March 22, 2016, the court records say. Cutler drove Green's Kia to Peters' apartment on March 24, 2016, unlawfully entered the residence and shot her in the head while she was in her bed working on baby shower invitations, according to the plea agreement filings.

Cutler used a potato as a silencer to muffle the sound of the gunshot, the court documents say. After killing Peters and Micah, Cutler called Green and told him about the murders he'd committed, the documents continued.

After receiving the call from Cutler, Green bought an Amtrak ticket from Chicago to St. Louis so "there would be verification that he was in Chicago at the time of the murder," according to the court records. Once in St. Louis, Green went directly to Peters' apartment, called 911 and repeatedly made false statements to police, the plea agreement filings say.

When Green got back to St. Louis, he initially tried to get Peters' mother, Lacey Peters, to "check on her," according to the sentencing memo filed by prosecutors, per the release.

“The depravity of asking a mother to go find Jocelyn’s body, knowing she was dead, can’t be matched,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Becker said during Tuesday’s hearing, according to the release.

'All she ever did was love him'

Lacey Peters spoke about her daughter at Green's sentencing hearing on Tuesday, saying, "All she ever did was love him," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. About Micah, she also said her daughter "loved that baby so much," the Justice Department's release said.

Peters’ cousin, Dedra Peters, said during the hearing that “Jocelyn had a light around her at all times,” and “touched the heart of anyone she came in contact with,” according to the release. Peters’ death has left the “family empty and heartbroken,” according to Dedra Peters, per the Justice Department.

A jury found Culter guilty of the same charges Green pleaded to, and he also received two consecutive life terms in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

When authorities told Cutler he was being detained, he immediately ate two pieces of paper from a notebook in his pocket, prosecutors said. It is unclear why Cutler ate the paper.