Dustan Preeper pleads guilty to Ben Hare's 2010 murder

Dustan Preeper pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of 26-year-old Ben Hare Wednesday.

Preeper, 26, killed Hare a year before he killed Melissa Peacock. Hare, 26, was found dead outside a Truro, N.S., apartment July 8, 2010, after a brawl at a party.

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Friends remembered the DJ as a good guy who died too young. Hare, known as Laz, was out drinking with a few friends in Truro.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Hare met with his brother and friends at their parents home in the east end of Truro on July 7, 2010. At about 1:30 a.m. on July 8, Hare and his friends went out.

The group passed a residence on Lyman Street where Dustan Preeper was drinking with friends. Preeper had slashed Hares brother in the face in 2009 (he was acquitted of that charge in May 2010).

Hare broke away from his friends and charged Preeper, according to the court documents. Hare attacked Preeper, knifing him in the face, neck and back. Several people tried to break the fight up, while others piled in with a barbell, table leg and chair.

Preeper picked up a baseball bat and swung wildly, striking Hare. Hare fell to the ground unconscious. Preeper chased Hares friends away with the bat.

Preeper returned to the house and batted the still unconscious Hare in the head, chest and face. Police arrived and found Preeper covered in blood. He was arrested.

Hare soon died of blunt force trauma to the head. Charges against Preeperin Hare's death were laid, then withdrawn, and re-laid.

On Wednesday, Preeper was sentenced to 12 years in prison for murdering Hare.