Cortland Man Admits Murdering his Girlfriend

A Cortland man is looking at 20 years to life in prison for murdering his teenaged girlfriend last May.

24 year old Michael Hammond II pleaded guilty to murder in the death of 16 year old Amie Leland.

Police said Hammond fought with Leland May 8^th at their Lincoln Avenue home and hit her with a wooden stool, wood axe handle and aluminum baseball bat, then stabbed her in the neck, back and chest.

Hammond was arrested just hours after the murder after authorities received a call of a distraught man in Virgil.

Hammond had originally been charged with burglary and criminal possession of weapons in addition to the murder count.

Leland was a student at Cortland High School.