Man given 18-year sentence in gay employer's murder

A man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for the 2003 stabbing and beating death of his employer. Willie Lee Mack pleaded guilty Tuesday in Raymond, Miss., to manslaughter in the death of Gregory Acker, who he claimed had chased him with a baseball bat after Mack rebuffed a sexual advance.

Mack had been charged with murder. Manslaughter carries a maximum 20-year sentence. Mack will be given credit for the three years already served and probably won't have to serve all of the remaining 15 years on his sentence, said assistant public defender Adam Powers.

Acker's mother, Marian Acker, said her son, who was a Jackson carpenter, had befriended Mack and taken him into his home. "My son said, 'If I don't help this child, who will?'" Marian Acker told Hinds County circuit judge L. Breland Hilburn. Mack's family wouldn't comment after the plea and sentencing.

According to the court record, Mack told people that he had lived with Acker at Acker's home in exchange for sex because he didn't have a place to stay. On September 4, 2003, Mack told investigators, he refused to have any more sex because he is not gay and was thinking about his girlfriend.

Mack said Acker began chasing him around the house with a bat after he pulled away from his kiss on the back of his neck. Mack told police he picked up a knife in the kitchen and that when the two ran back into the living room, he stabbed and beat Acker, according to court documents.

Acker's body was found by his brother. Police said Acker's van, two VCRs, and a wallet were missing. (AP)

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