CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP) _ A former Virginia Tech student has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for the 2014 murder of another student. Media outlets report that Montgomery County Circuit Judge Robert Turk sentenced 24-year-old Jessica Michelle Ewing on Monday. In February, Ewing entered an Alford plea to the first-degree murder of Samantha Shrestha. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges the prosecution has enough evidence for a conviction. Prosecutors had presented evidence that Ewing strangled the 21-year-old biology student on Feb. 7, 2014. Shrestha also suffered blunt force trauma to her head and her upper and lower extremities.
