Principal convicted of hiring friend to kill pregnant teacher

A former St. Louis high school principal who hired a friend to kill a teacher who was pregnant with his child has been ordered to serve two consecutive life sentences in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Tuesday for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Cornelius Green, 42, pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit murder for hire and murder for hire in the 2016 death of Jocelyn Peters, 30, who was 31 weeks pregnant, and fetus, named Micah Leigh. .

In his plea agreement, Green admitted to hiring a childhood friend, Phillip Cutler of Oklahoma, to kill Peters, a teacher at Mann Elementary School in St. Louis who was in a romantic relationship with Green. Before his death, Peters believed Green was divorcing his wife and was unaware he was also having relationships with several other women, prosecutors said.

According to a sentencing memorandum, Peters was determined to keep the baby after previously having a miscarriage, then terminated a second pregnancy at “Green's urging.”

Meanwhile, Green was looking for ways to hide abortion pills in oatmeal, according to the memo. Prosecutors said that when that plan failed, he called Cutler, who was “financially down and in need of money,” to plan the murders.

Prosecutors say Green, the principal of Carr Lane Visual and Performing Arts Middle School in St. Louis, took money from a fundraiser held by the school's dance team to pay Cutler for his services as a hitman. Detectives found evidence that the two men planned the killings during a series of phone calls and that Green sent Cutler a package containing $2,500 in cash.

“He literally stole from children to pay for the murder of his own child,” Nicole Conaway, who was principal at Mann Elementary School when Peters was a teacher, said in prosecutors' news release.

As part of the plot to kill Peters, Green traveled to Chicago to establish an alibi and left Cutler with the keys to his car and Peters' apartment, according to his indictment.

Peters was making a guest list for her baby shower when she was killed, the sentencing memorandum said.

Cutler drove Green's car to Peters' apartment on March 24, 2016, and entered the house using the key, according to the indictment. Inside, Cutler found Peters in bed and shot him, using a potato to suppress the sound of the gunshot.

Green returned to St. Louis and called 911 to report her death, pretending to know nothing about what had happened and lying to police, according to the sentencing memorandum.

“He repeatedly lied to police while attempting to hide his involvement in this horrific crime by forcing Cutler and others to conceal evidence,” prosecutors said in the memorandum. “He attempted to evade detection of his crime at every turn throughout the investigation.”

In his defense sentencing memorandum, Green's attorney said he accepted responsibility for his actions and hoped to use his experience to educate other prisoners while he spent his life behind bars.

Cutler was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder for hire and murder for hire in March. He was also sentenced to two life sentences.

Speaking at Green's sentencing, Lacey Peters, the victim's mother, called the crime “senseless,” local NBC affiliate KSDK reported.