By Travis Gettys
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - Almost three years after pleading guilty to the July 2000 murder of Stephen Craven, Russell "Rusty" McIntire was sentenced Monday to life in prison.

Russell "Rusty" McIntire reads documents related to his sentencing as he enters Kenton Circuit Court. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. (Patrick Reddy photo)

Kenton County Circuit Court Judge Patricia Summe disregarded appeals for clemency, saying McIntire's cooperation with authorities would not make a difference until he goes before the parole board after 25 years.

"I know you wish you could take it back, but it doesn't change the fact that Mr. Craven was brutally murdered," Summe said.

As part of a plea agreement that allowed him to avoid the death penalty, McIntire pleaded guilty in June 2001 to his role in the slaying of Craven, a pilot for Delta Air Lines.

McIntire testified in two separate trials that he helped Adele Craven, with whom he was having an affair, murder her husband in the couple's Edgewood home.

The first trial ended Dec. 6, 2002 in a mistrial, and Adele Craven pleaded guilty Feb. 19 to masterminding the murder-for-hire plot. Summe sentenced her to life in prison without possibility of parole for 20 years.

A jury sentenced hit man Ronald Pryor to death May 8, 2002, but that sentence was rescinded in exchange for his testimony in Adele Craven's second trial. Pryor will be re-sentenced later this month.

McIntire thanked his family and friends for their support and apologized for Stephen Craven's murder.

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E-mail tgettys@enquirer.com