ABBEVILLE, Ga. — Bo Dukes, one of the men connected to the Tara Grinstead case, was sentenced to 25 consecutive years in Georgia prison Friday morning.
The judge gave Dukes five years for count one, two and three to run consecutively and then 10 years for count four --which will also run consecutively.
Dukes was sentenced after he was found guilty of concealing her death and lying to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation by a jury on Thursday in Wilcox County Superior Court.
Grinstead was the south Georgia beauty queen and teacher who vanished from her home in Ocilla in Irwin County back in October 2005.
Dukes was convicted of four charges in Wilcox County: two counts of making false statements, one count of hindering apprehension or punishment of a criminal and one count of concealing the death of another.
This came after a four-day trial that brought forth 21 witnesses, multiple recordings of GBI interviews and harrowing pictures of human bone fragments and GBI searches in a pecan orchard.
Dukes' attorney pleaded with the judge to give Dukes' 12 years. His attorney brought up Dukes' military awards.
"Though these actions in defense of our country cannot and do not take away what happened to Ms. Grinstead...they show that there is good in Mr.Dukes'. That he is not entirely evil," his attorney said.
During the sentencing, the judge became emotional and said that he doesn't enjoy this part of the job.
Dukes still faces charges in Ben Hill County for allegedly burning Grinstead's body on his uncle's pecan orchard, and in Houston County for allegedly sexually assaulting two women at gunpoint.
He's previously served federal prison time for stealing $150,000 from the United States Army.
Ryan Duke, the other man connected to the case, is charged with murdering Grinstead. His trial is set for April in Irwin County.
Grinstead's sister, Anita Gattis, said she was relieved when the verdict was handed out.
"We finally got a little bit of justice for Tara. I know we have two more trials to go, and I hope we get the same verdict in those two, but I was very thankful that the jury actually saw the truth," she said.