Michael Jace, an actor who portrayed a police officer on the TV series "The Shield," was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison Friday for fatally shooting his wife in front of their two young children in their Los Angeles home.
Before the sentence was handed down, Jace spoke for the first time in court, saying there was "no justification for my actions that night at all, and I am profoundly sorry for the pain I have caused everyone ... There is no replacing April."
The woman's mother, Kay Henry, quickly walked out of court after Jace maintained that "there was no premeditated anything."
"I realize it doesn't bring her back," Jace said, turning to tell her family members, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Jace was convicted of second-degree murder last week by a jury of six women and six men that deliberated for about two hours before finding the 53-year-old guilty in the killing of April Jace on May 19, 2014. He was also convicted on a special allegation charge that he used a handgun.
During the trial, the couple's 10-year-old son testified that he saw his father bring his mother into a hallway, where she fell down. "Then my dad said, 'If you like running, run to heaven, and then he shot her," the boy told jurors.
According to prosecutors, the actor was upset his wife wanted a divorce and was obsessed with the belief that she was seeing someone else.
Jace waited in their Hyde Park home in the 5400 block of Brynhurst Avenue and when his wife arrived, he shot her once in the back, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The defense memo requested the minimum sentence prescribed by law.
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"Outside of this tragic killing, Mr. Jace has been a law-abiding citizen who has never been convicted or even arrested for a crime," defense attorney Jamon Hicks stated in a sentencing memorandum. "This was truly an anomaly for Mr. Jace."
The defense said there was no evidence that Jace was brewing and plotting the demise of his wife of nine years, and that the prosecution had "oversold this case" by pursuing a first-degree murder conviction.
One of Jace's attorneys, Jamon Hicks, conceded that Jace shot his wife once in the back and then twice in the legs. But he questioned whether the actor would have premeditated the shooting knowing that the children would be there.
Jace is best known for his role as Los Angeles police Officer Julien Lowe in "The Shield." He has also appeared in such films as "Forrest Gump," "Boogie Nights" and "Planet of the Apes."
