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Man sentenced to life for killing ex-boss's wife in Va. Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH

A 27-year-old man was ordered today to serve life in prison and pay a $100,000 fine for the brutal stabbing of his former boss’s wife.

John Marshall Wise Jr. was convicted in October of first-degree murder. Prosecutors convinced jurors that Wise used a carving knife to stab and nearly decapitate Yolanda Crawford in November 2005.

Wise had stayed occasionally with Yolanda Crawford and her husband, Larry, in the couple’s home near Lake Christopher. Wise worked for Larry Crawford at an Elizabeth City eatery. At the time of the killing, Larry Crawford was in jail, facing an arson charge after the restaurant burned down.

After committing the murder, Wise tied the 59-year-old grandmother’s body with rope and wrapped her in a bed sheet, comforter and shower curtain. He stayed at the house for two more days, bleaching blood stains, selling household items and visiting pornographic Web sites on a desktop computer, prosecutors said.

At the sentencing hearing today, Wise told the court that he realized he had no credibility, but he insisted he did not kill Crawford.

Circuit Judge A. Bonwill Shockley denied defense attorney B. Thomas Reed’s motion to set aside the jury’s verdict. She handed down the jury’s recommended sentence of life in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Reed said he would file an appeal.