LETTERS POLICY

Voice of the People letters are invited and will be run as soon as possible after they are received.

The Press reserves the right to reject letters deemed libelous, in poor taste, produced on a mass basis or solicitous.

Voice letters must be 350 words or fewer. “Thank You” letters must be 300 words or fewer.

Letters must be signed and include an address and telephone number for verification.

Letters by the same writer are limited to two per month.

A former campus police officer convicted of manslaughter in the death of his wife, an adult model who posted racy photos online, was sentenced to 16 years in prison Monday by a judge who said the man still hadn’t taken responsibility for the death.

William Jeffrey West, 47, will get credit for the three years he has spent in jail since his arrest in the death of Kathleen Dawn West, 42, news outlets reported. He faced a maximum 20 years in prison.

Kat West was found dead in January 2018 along the street in front of the couple’s suburban home in Calera, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Birmingham. Jeff West killed her with a blow to the head from a liquor bottle, prosecutors contended, but the defense argued she died in an accidental fall after a night of heavy drinking.

Shelby County Circuit Judge Bill Bostick told

West, an Army veteran who had worked as a campus officer at Birmingham-Southern College, that he had plenty of opportunities to accept responsibility for his wife’s death.

“For your own reasons you don’t intend to do that so the jury had to do that for you,” he said.

Kathleen West publicly posted lingerie photos online and charged viewers to see more revealing images. The defense told jurors during opening statements that her adult pictures — posted under the name “Kitty Kat West” — did not cause discord between the couple and that her husband assisted her.