Ex-NY Pro Hockey Player Sentenced For Wife’s Slaying In 2015

BATH, N.Y. (AP) — A former professional hockey player convicted in the slaying of his wife in their upstate New York home has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

A Steuben (stoo-BEHN') County Court judge on Monday sentenced 39-year-old Thomas Clayton to the maximum penalty in connection with the killing of his 35-year-old wife, Kelley.

A jury convicted Clayton on first- and second-degree murder charges in February. He hired a former employee, Michael Beard, to kill Kelley Clayton inside the couple's home in the rural town of Caton in late September 2015.

The 46-year-old Beard was convicted of the same charges last November and sentenced to a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.

Thomas Clayton as a star at Niagara University before going on to play professionally for the Elmira Jackals, a minor league team.