An airman convicted of the premeditated murder of his pregnant fiancee will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Airman 1st Class Charles Amos Wilson III will also be reduced in rank to E-1, forfeit all his pay and allowances, and will be dishonorably discharged, a sentencing panel of 13 officers and enlisted airmen ruled on Wednesday.
Wilson, an airman with the 461st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, was found guilty Feb. 13 of one count of murdering Tameda Ferguson and a second count of murdering the child she was 8 1/2 months pregnant with at the time. Wilson shot Ferguson to death at her home in Dawson, Georgia, about 100 miles south of Robins, in August 2013, the court-martial ruled.
"The Air Force has great confidence in our military justice system, which holds members accountable for their actions and provides a fair and efficient process for the just resolution of cases," Roland Leach, a spokesman for the 78th Air Base Wing at Robins said in a statement. "Airman 1st Class Wilson's crimes are an extreme departure from the high standards the Air Force sets for its people, and he is not representative of the exceptional airmen serving and defending our nation."
Wilson was also found guilty in another court-martial in June 2016 of striking Tech. Sgt. Denise Forrest, who was his girlfriend at the time, during an argument, though he was found not guilty of other charges. A third court-martial the same month found Wilson not guilty of felony murder in the death of his friend, civilian Robins employee, Demetrius Hardy.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
