TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida woman convicted of helping mastermind the killing of her husband more than two decades ago has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after a previous life sentence was tossed on appeal.
The Tallahassee Democrat reports that a Leon County circuit judge handed down the sentence Thursday for Denise Williams, rejecting arguments from her attorney that she was only a minor participant in the plot to kill her husband.
“I don’t find she was a relatively minor participant in the conspiracy to kill Mike Williams,” Judge Kevin Carroll said before making his ruling, the Tallahassee Democrat said. “Mrs. Williams could have stopped this on Dec. 16 as she had done before. This case is a tragedy. This case is a waste and it didn’t have to happen.”
Prosecutors say she plotted his homicide with her lover and husband's best friend Brian Winchester in a scheme to get a $2 million life insurance payout.
Winchester testified he had an affair with Williams and shot her husband in December 2000.
Winchester and Williams would eventually marry, but their relationship later soured.
Mike Williams disappeared while duck hunting near Tallahassee. It was speculated at the time that he drowned and his body was devoured by alligators. His buried body was found in 2017.
As the case initially unfolded, it was said to recall the plot of the Hollywood classic film "Double Indemnity."
