From Andy Furillo:
A weeping Kier Anderson proclaimed his innocence today before a judge sentenced him to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of his wife three years ago.
"I reassert that I did not murder my wife," Anderson, 42, told the court, saying that the evidence that convinced a jury he strangled his wife, Jennifer, on Feb. 28, 2006, and strung her up in the garage of their Tahoe Park home to make it look like a suicide was "tainted, altered or destroyed" and that "facts have been distorted or presented out of context."
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Greta Curtis Fall disagreed.
"The defendant received a fair and just trial and jurors returned a fair and just verdict," Fall said, before imposing the life term on Anderson.
Prosecutors charged that Anderson killed his 28-year-old wife because he had lost control of her and that she had planned to separate from him.
The break-up came after the bisexual Anderson invited a male friend into their home and his wife and the new partner established an intimate relationship of their own.
"All of his anger toward Jennifer resulted in him squeezing the life out of her ... until he ultimately killed her," Deputy District Attorney Ruanne Dozier told the court.
In his statement in court, Anderson also blasted his in-laws for keeping his two daughters away from him after winning custody of them in court.
"They've been forcibly separated from their home, their pets, and the love and attention of their father, and their parental grandparents by people intent on causing further pain and suffering," Anderson said.
He said that Jennifer Anderson's parents - former Assistant Public Defender Lawrence Knobloch and his wife, Sheila - "have perpetuated a completely false scenario not supported by the facts and the evidence."
Lawrence Knobloch said outside court the convicted murderer's statement "just shows his denial and his lack of concern for anybody other than himself. There was nothing in there that was not self serving."
Knobloch said he and his wife have since adopted the two girls and that visitation rights were denied to Anderson's parents because "they were blaming us for everything" and violating court orders that they not talk about the case with the daughters when they had them.
Anderson's parents declined to comment when they left the courthouse today.
Sheila Knobloch, in a statement to the court, said one of the couple's daughters appears to be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder "due to the fact that she heard and possibly saw the struggle between Jen and Kier."
Anderson denied that she was in their house at the time authorities said Jennifer Anderson was killed.
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