West Sacramento man admits suffocating his 3 children

A West Sacramento man has pleaded guilty to three counts of murder by suffocating his three children and to trying to kill his wife.|
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

SACRAMENTO - A West Sacramento man has pleaded guilty to three counts of murder by suffocating his three children and to trying to kill his wife.

Robert Hodges pleaded guilty Thursday and will be sentenced next month to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The plea agreement Yolo County prosecutors signed Thursday drops the possibility of seeking the death penalty.

District Attorney Jeff Reisig says in a statement that he agreed to a life term because of the surviving family's desire for a swift and certain conclusion to what he called a heartbreaking case.

Hodges says in the plea agreement that on Sept. 13 he first suffocated infant Lucas Hodges. He waited, then used a belt to strangle 10-year-old Julie Hodges before eventually strangling 11-year-old Kelvin Hodges with a belt.

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