A convicted sex offender who has admitted kidnapping and killing his 12-year-old niece in Vermont has been sentenced to life without parole.
Forty-eight-year-old Michael Jacques appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Burlington. He was formally sentenced to life for the 2008 killing of Brooke Bennett of Braintree.
He apologized in court and said he was ashamed of his actions. Brooke's mother, Cassandra Adams, called him a "monster" and a "filthy pig."
Last summer, the former Randolph man pleaded guilty to kidnapping with death resulting and other charges. In exchange, federal prosecutors dropped plans to seek the death penalty.
Brooke's disappearance prompted Vermont's first Amber Alert. The case also was the catalyst for the Legislature tightening the state's sex offender laws.
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