CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) – A northwestern Indiana man convicted in the slaying of a former schoolteacher has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the killing.
 
A Lake County judge sentenced 40-year-old Robert Lewis II on Monday in the sexual assault and killing of 37-year-old Jennifer Kocsis.  Jurors convicted the Gary man last month.
 
The former Griffith schoolteacher was slain in April 2011 after she agreed to give Lewis a ride from a Griffith bar-restaurant. Her battered, partially clad body was found on the property of a vacant school.
 
The Times of Munster reports Linda Carey told the judge that her daughter had many friends and was a mentor to her nieces and nephews.
 
Lewis' defense attorney said the killing wasn't intentional and blamed Lewis' level of intoxication.