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Former Columbia cop gets life for student's murder

By Kyle Palmer, KBIA

Columbia, Mo. – A former Columbia police officer convicted of killing an MU student will spend the rest of his life in jail.

A Boone County judge gave Steven Rios a life sentence Tuesday. Rios has no chance of parole.

A jury convicted Rios earlier this year of first-degree murder in the death of Jesse Valencia, an University of Missouri student with whom Rios was having an affair.

But Rios told the court he plans to appeal the sentence, claiming he had ineffective counsel.

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