3rd Teen Pleads Guilty In Principal Slaying

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -- The third of four suspects charged in the slaying of a D.C. middle school principal has pleaded guilty, but his sentencing has been postponed.

Nineteen-year-old Joel Johnson pleaded guilty Tuesday to accessory after the fact to first-degree murder in the death of Brian Betts. He was initially charged with murder. The reduced charge carries a potential sentence of up to five years in prison.

Johnson was scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday, but Judge Thomas Craven postponed sentencing pending the trial of a fourth defendant, who is scheduled to go on trial early next year.

Prosecutors say Betts met his killer, 19-year-old Alante Saunders, through a sex chat line and agreed to leave the door to his Silver Spring home open.

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