One of two men charged with fatally beating a South Florida woman with a baseball bat has pleaded guilty.
Herbert Savell, 29, was sentenced Monday to 60 years in prison, avoiding a trial scheduled to begin next month. He will now testify against his co-defendant.
Savell pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon to avoid a possible death sentence. He was facing a charge of first-degree murder.
Under the terms of his plea deal, Savell agreed to testify against 31-year-old Andrew Hoffman in February.
Police said Savell and Hoffman fatally beat Margeaux Greenwald with a baseball bat in June 2014.
According to a police report, Savell admitted that he and Hoffman were at the 35-year-old victim's Boynton Beach home when she passed out, so they decided to bind Greenwald's hands and feet with belts and neckties. They wrapped her in large plastic garbage bags and a rain poncho, and then stuffed her in the trunk of her 2005 Chrysler 300.
Savell told police that he heard noises coming from the trunk, so he stopped at a Target store and bought a 25-inch aluminum baseball bat. He said they drove to a wooded area in Palm Beach Gardens, opened the trunk and repeatedly beat her with the bat he had just purchased.
Once she was dead, Savell told police, he hid her body, put the bat and wrappings in the trunk and drove away.