Man sentenced to prison for freezing death of girlfriend

ST. JOSEPH (AP) — A southwestern Michigan man whose drunken girlfriend froze to death after he chastised her on video for being intoxicated and left her on an unheated enclosed porch has been sentenced to prison.

Charles Campbell Jr., 49, earlier pleaded guilty in an agreement with prosecutors to involuntary manslaughter in the Feb. 22, 2014, death of Tamika Hurd, 32.

He was sentenced in a Berrien County courtroom to 19 months to 15 years in prison.

“I’m sorry it happened, but I tried to help her,” Campbell told the court. “It hurts me.”

Judge Angela Pasula disagreed, saying Hurd’s death was “avoidable, unnecessary and tragic,” The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph reported.

“You did not try to help her, on this occasion. ... There’s a fine line between tough love and compassion. The victim was highly intoxicated and your failure to assist her may have risen to cruelty,” the judge told Campbell before sentencing him.