WWMT reported Tommie Heard was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole in the stabbing death of Morgan Schug in Battle Creek.

Monday's term is the sentence the station reported. The Sept. 24 guilty findings are what the prosecutor told the station the next day. Life without the possibility of parole is the Nov. 2 photo caption. The lede says without parole. The sentence paragraph lists the counts and does not print the word life. Four earlier domestic-related incidents are described as charges.

WWMT, in a story by Katie Sergent whose page prints Mon, November 2, 2026 at 2:02 p.m. and an update at 2:05 p.m., with no zone on those lines, reported that a man will spend the rest of his life behind bars without parole for stabbing his on-and-off-again girlfriend to death in Battle Creek. It reported Tommie Heard, 35, was sentenced Monday to first-degree premeditated and felony murder, as well as domestic violence third-offense. The lede prints without parole. The sentence paragraph prints the counts and does not print the word life. The caption on the lead photograph reads, "Pictured is Tommie Heard, 35. Heard was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for stabbing his on-and-off again girlfriend to death in April 2024. (Teanna Barnes/WWMT)." On-and-off-again, in the lede, and on-and-off again, in the caption, are not the same hyphenation. Life in prison without the possibility of parole, in the caption, and the rest of his life behind bars without parole, in the lede, are not the same sentence. The story reported this comes over two years after police said Heard confessed to stabbing Morgan Schug, 28, to death on April 12, 2024. A confession the story attributes to police is not the guilty verdict in the Sept. 25 story. It reported a Battle Creek police officer found Heard running with bloody hands near East Emmett Street, about two blocks from Schug's grandmother's house on East Pitman Avenue, and that Schug's grandmother tried to stop Heard, but he shoved her, according to court records. It reported Misty Schug, Morgan's sister, previously said, "He will spend the rest of his life in prison, but justice would be him six feet under, right along with her because he took her and we can't get her back." Previously said is the Nov. 2 attribution. It is not a quotation the story places at the sentencing. It reported Misty Schug previously told News Channel 3 she saw Heard get violent with her sister throughout their eight-year relationship, and that her sister never filed a personal protection order. It reported that, in addition to Monday's sentencing, Heard has been previously charged with four domestic-related incidents, including three misdemeanors and a felony, according to court records. Charged, in that sentence, is not a conviction. The story gives the S.A.F.E. Place 24-hour hotline as 269-965-7233. The Nov. 2 body does not print the word pregnant. A line on the page is labeled previous coverage and uses the headline "Woman was pregnant with boyfriend's child when he stabbed her to death, family says." The page's topic list includes Pregnant girlfriend. A previous-coverage headline and a topic tag are not a sentence in the Nov. 2 body.

WWMT, in a story by Autumn Pitchure whose page prints Fri, September 25, 2026 at 7:54 p.m. and an update at 8:09 p.m., with no zone on those lines, reported that Tommie Heard, 35, was found guilty Thursday of first-degree, premeditated, and felony murder as well as domestic violence third offense, according to Calhoun County Prosecutor David Gilbert. The caption on that story's photograph prints Sept. 24, 2026. Thursday before that Friday publication date is Sept. 24. First-degree, premeditated, and felony murder, with commas, and domestic violence third offense, without a hyphen, are the Sept. 25 count line. First-degree premeditated and felony murder, without those commas, and domestic violence third-offense, with a hyphen, are the Nov. 2 count line. It reported that in April 2024, police say Heard confessed to stabbing Morgan Schug, 28, to death, and that she was his girlfriend. His girlfriend, on Sept. 25, and on-and-off-again girlfriend, on Nov. 2, are not the same description. It reported the officer found him running with bloody hands near East Emmett Street, that he was two blocks from the grandmother's house on East Pitman Avenue, and that the grandmother tried to stop him but he shoved her down, according to court records. Two blocks, on Sept. 25, and about two blocks, on Nov. 2, are not the same distance. Shoved her down, and shoved her, are not the same verb. It reported Grandma Schug watched her granddaughter get stabbed multiple times, records detailed, and it quoted Misty Schug, "She's kind of lost her mind due to it, she witnessed her grandchild being killed." The Nov. 2 story does not print that. It reported Misty Schug told News Channel 3 that Morgan Schug was pregnant with Heard's child when he murdered her, and quoted her, "She was four months along and we found out weeks before." That is the sister's account to the station. It is not a sentence in the Nov. 2 body. The sister's quotation does not give the pregnancy a name. It reported Misty Schug said she saw Heard get violent throughout their eight year relationship, without the hyphen the Nov. 2 story uses in eight-year, and quoted her, "Morgan would leave him because she was sick of being beaten and then she would go back because he would talk her into going back." It reported Morgan Schug never filed a personal protection order, according to Misty Schug, and quoted her, "The family couldn't even stop him, I don't think a piece of paper would have been able to stop him." It reported Heard has previously been charged with four domestic-related incidents, according to the Calhoun County Prosecutor's Office. The prosecutor's office, on Sept. 25, and court records, on Nov. 2, are not the same attribution, and the Sept. 25 sentence does not print three misdemeanors and a felony. It quoted Melissa Schug, Morgan Schug's mom, "They should have done something when they knew he was doing all this violent stuff to these women and maybe Morgan would be here today." It reported Heard is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 2. A date the Sept. 25 story scheduled is the day the Nov. 2 story reports as the sentence. The Sept. 25 caption spells Tommie heard, with a lowercase h. The Nov. 2 caption spells Tommie Heard.

The Nov. 2 lead photograph is one adult man in an orange shirt against a block wall, and the caption names him as Tommie Heard, 35. The same story's other two frames show that man in a courtroom with deputies. Those frames were not used here. The Sept. 25 photograph is captioned as Tommie Heard and Morgan Schug together, credited to Misty Schug/WWMT, and was not used. Monday's sentence is what News Channel 3 reported on Nov. 2. The Sept. 24 guilty findings are what the station reported the prosecutor said. The Sept. 25 story prints Calhoun County for the jury and for the prosecutor. The Nov. 2 story does not print the prosecutor's name, and it does not print Calhoun County in the body. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.