Czech court sentences American for murder

An appeals court has upheld the murder conviction of an American living in the Czech Republic and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.

Gilbert Ferguson McCrae, 53, was found guilty by Prague's municipal court in November for killing a 34-year-old Czech man by shooting him in the head with a handgun.

Rufolf Slavik was killed in a tram in Prague in February 2011, and the prosecution said McCrae did that after the Czech had insulted him in a bar.

McCrae, who pleaded not guilty, appealed the verdict, but Prague's High Court upheld it Wednesday.

Court spokesman Jan Fort says McCrae was born in Montclair, New Jersey, and also has British citizenship.

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