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Utah doctor gets 17 years to life for drowning wife

Martin MacNeill's daughter tells a Utah judge that her father, in killing her mother, "took the kindest, most caring person I’ve ever known."

By Frances Burns

PROVO, Utah, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- A Utah doctor killed his wife out of unmitigated selfishness," a judge said Friday as he sentenced Martin MacNeill to 17 years to life.

District Judge Derek Pullan imposed consecutive sentences on MacNeill for murder and obstruction of justice. The judge said both sentences would be consecutive to a sentence of up to 15 years imposed earlier this week for sexually molesting one of MacNeill's daughters after his wife's death.

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MacNeill displayed "unmitigated selfishness that really shocks the conscience," Pullan said.

A jury found MacNeill guilty last year of drowning his wife, Michelle MacNeill, in the bathtub at their home in Pleasant Grove after giving her drugs in 2007. Michelle was found by her 6-year-old daughter.

At the sentencing, MacNeill's daughter, Rachel, wept as she asked Pullan to punish her father.

"He took the kindest, most caring person I've ever known, and he calculatingly took her from us all," she said.

The sentencing was delayed for 10 months as MacNeill's lawyer waged a legal battle for a new trial.

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