INDEPENDENCE, Kan. (KSNW) — A Coffeyville man was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after he was convicted of first-degree murder stemming from a 2019 shooting.

Benjamin Mason, who is now 20, but was 18 at the time of the shooting, was sentenced by a judge in the Montgomery County District Court on one count of first-degree murder. He pleaded no contest on Dec. 20, 2021, for his role in the shooting death of Kimberly Meeks.

Investigators say that Meeks was shot and killed on the evening of Dec. 14, 2019, while walking with another man along Main St. in Independence, Kansas.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Independence Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff and the U.S. Postal Inspectors all investigated the case.

Independence, Kansas, has a population of around 9,500 residents and is located in southeastern Kansas, roughly 117 miles away from Wichita.