San Diego

A sailor from the San Diego-based aircraft carrier Constellation has pleaded guilty to the murder of another sailor whose body was dumped into the Arabian Sea and never recovered, a Navy spokesman said Tuesday.

Alejo Hernandez Jr., 20, of Rosharon, Tex., received a life term after plea bargaining with Navy prosecutors, said Navy Chief Craig Huebler. In accepting the plea bargain, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty for Hernandez, Huebler said.

Hernandez and an accomplice, sailor Marc Charles Delevieleuse, 20, were charged with killing Martin Thomas Sturdy, 21, of Chandler, Ariz., on Aug. 6 while the Constellation was on six months deployment at sea. Although Sturdy’s body was never recovered, prosecutors believe that he was stabbed and beaten before he was thrown overboard, Huebler said.

The two suspects were charged with robbery and murder and brought to the 32nd Street Brig. Delevieleuse, of Stockbridge, Ga., is scheduled to face a court-martial Nov. 9. Hernandez was sentenced to a life term, but Huebler said that the Navy Clemency Review Board will monitor his progress in a federal prison and could order him released in the future.