Homeless man gets at least 28 years in beating death

WILMINGTON, N.C. – A homeless man will serve at least 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in a beating death at a homeless camp in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Local news outlets report that 48-year-old Stacy Wayne Brown pleaded guilty and was sentenced Monday in the death of Donald Lane Ward in February of last year.

Prosecutors say people at the homeless camp had been drinking and a fight broke out during which the victim was beaten.

Brown's girlfriend, 33-year-old Joy Hood, also is charged with second-degree murder. No trial date for that case has been set.