A northern Minnesota man has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for fatally beating his wife and leaving her on a snowy road.

Jeremiah Kingbird, 39, of Ponemah, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul in connection with the death of Gennie M. Kingbird, 41, who died at the Red Lake IHS Hospital on Jan. 6, 2019.

"In this particular case, Mr. Kingbird subjected his wife to extreme physical violence before leaving her on the side of a road, exposed to below freezing temperatures," U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald said in a statement issued after Kingbird's sentence for second-degree murder. "The disproportionally high rates of violence that plague Native American women is unacceptable."

Law enforcement officers found a badly injured Gennie Kingbird facedown in the snow and struggling to breathe. Emergency personnel took her to the hospital, where she died.

Jeremiah Kingbird admitted to attacking his wife and leaving her outside after a night of drinking, according to court records.

After his 16-year term is up, Jeremiah Kingbird will be on supervised release for five years.