After pleading guilty Tuesday to raping a 16-year-old girl, a Texarkana man was sentenced to serve 15 years in an Arkansas prison.

Potential jurors milled about the second-floor hallway of the Miller County Courthouse as Circuit Judge Joe Griffin accepted a guilty plea from Matthew Clovis Jewell. After Jewell was led from the courtroom in handcuffs, the jury panel was brought in, thanked for their service and released.

“I’m going to try to go on with my life and put this behind me,” said the petite victim as she sat flanked by family. “I’m just glad it went as easily as...

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