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LA Man Pleads Guilty To His Wife's Cruise Ship Beating Death

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Los Angeles man charged with beating his wife to death in their cruise ship cabin has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

The U.S. attorney's office in San Diego says 57-year-old Robert McGill admitted Thursday to intentionally killing his wife of five years. Shirley McGill was also his high school sweetheart.

The couple was on a five-day Mexican cruise to Cabo San Lucas on the ship Carnival Elation in July 2009 when Shirley McGill was slain.

McGill faces a maximum sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 8. He was initially charged with first-degree murder.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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