THIRD OF FOUR DEFENDANTS GETS 18 YEARS IN HACKER MURDER

John Wayne Stewart received an 18-year sentence for his role in the 2017 beating death of Emily Hacker Thursday in 20th District Court.

   Stewart was the third of four defendants to be sentenced in Hacker's death. During the summer, Candice Jones and Edward Brannon Barry each drew 50-year sentences.

  A fourth defendant, Ashley Wesson-Zawadzke, was to have been sentenced on Thursday but that hearing is being reset as her attorney is involved in another case.

   Both Stewart and Wesson-Zawadzke pleaded guilty, turned state's evidence and testified against Jones and Barry.

  Hacker, 34, was beaten to death in a Rockdale residence.