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A Bozeman, Montana, man was sentenced to 105 years in prison on Monday for hitting his wife in the head with a cast iron frying pan and slitting her throat during an alcohol-fueled argument after a New Year’s Eve party last year, multiple news outlets report.
Court records show that, in a plea agreement with prosecutors in August, 34-year-old Jake Collins pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide and tampering with evidence in the Jan. 1, 2017, death of his wife, Crystal Collins, 32.
Five children were in their home when she was killed.
Jake confessed to the grisly killing, saying he hit Crystal with the frying panafter she told him she was going to leave himduring an altercation earlier that night, theBozeman Daily Chroniclereports.
Calling the slaying “calculated, outrageous, aggravated and intolerable” in handing down the sentence, Judge Holly Brown told Jake he could have divorced or separated from Crystal rather than killing her, theChroniclereports.
“The defendant knew what he was doing and knew that it was wrong,” Brown reportedly said.
Jake will have to serve nearly 26 years before he is eligible for parole.
During Monday’s sentencing, the judge heard from Crystal’s mother, Margie McGivern, who brought the silver urn containing her daughter’s ashes to the stand with her while she asked the court to give Jake the maximum sentence, according to theChronicle.
Pointing to the urn, McGivern looked at her son-in-law and said tearfully, according to the outlet, “This is what I have left of my daughter. I would have never given my daughter to you, ever. I’m ashamed I gave her to you, Jake.
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“I will probably always hate your guts,” McGivern continued. “You killed my family, Jake.”
After the murder, Jake told police — and Crystal’s family — that hehadn’t seen her since they had a fighton New Year’s Eve, MTN News reports.
He later confessed, saying they had gotten into an argument at a New Year’s Eve party earlier that night and that he “snapped” when they returned home, theChroniclereports.
On the night of the murder, Jake haddowned 17 beers and a shot of whiskey and smoked marijuana, authorities said, the Associated Press reports.
He tried to dispose of his wife’s body the next dayat a local landfill but returned homebecause it was closed, theClay Center Dispatchreports.
Calling the murder a “spontaneous, isolated incident in Jake’s life,” his attorney argued at Monday’s hearing that the killing resulted from the stress of the couple’s rocky relationship, theChroniclereports.
Jake apologized in court, according to theChroncle. His defense attorney, Greg Jackson, said he “reached a point and he snapped.”
Gallatin County Attorney Marty Lambert argued otherwise, telling the court that Jake “showed Crystal Collins absolutely no mercy. None.”
As part of the sentence, Jake was ordered to pay $5,500 in restitution for funeral and counseling costs. He received credit for 652 days already served, theChroniclereports.
PEOPLE’s alls to Jake’s attorney were not immediately returned on Wednesday.
source: people.com
