Associated Press - November 13, 2009 12:35 PM ET

HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) - 1 of 3 men charged in the 2007 slaying of a University of Tennessee at Martin student has been sentenced to life in prison.

District Attorney Ben Creekmore says Barry Hullett of Lexington, Tenn., was convicted Thursday in Marshall County Circuit Court of accessory after the fact in the death of Joe Beale III. Creekmore says Hullett was sentenced as a habitual offender.

Beale was shot multiple times and his body was placed in a car that was set on fire. Creekmore says Beale had traveled to Mississippi to settle a drug debt with Hullett and his cousin, Marcus Hullett. Marcus Hullett of Byhalia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. Yolandrius Jones of Byhalia pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact. Creekmore says both await sentencing.

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