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Wife killer delivers long, strange soliloquy at sentencing
Michael Collins Iheme rambled for 40 minutes before being sent to prison for 32 years for his wife's slaying.
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At his sentencing Thursday for murdering his wife, Michael Collins Iheme gave a nearly 40-minute version of his life including his new faith in God and a song he wrote calling his dead wife "the heart of her husband."
Iheme said he knows God has forgiven him and quoted several Bible verses that warn against responding to evil with evil. "I saw everything she did to me as rubbish," he said. "This marriage was done with good intention. It ended unfortunately. I wish I had the Holy Spirit like I have now. I would have overcome."
A jury in February convicted Iheme, 51, of second-degree murder in the death of Anthonia Iheme, 28, as she sat in her car July 24 in the parking lot of Sholom Home West in St. Louis Park.
Iheme, a Nigerian immigrant, called police from a cell phone afterward and said, "I have killed the woman that mess my life up."
The defense said Iheme killed his wife in a fit of passion after she admitted he wasn't the father of their youngest child. Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Deborah Russell argued for premeditated first-degree murder, saying Iheme knew about the betrayal well in advance. But the jury convicted on the lesser charge.
In his comments, Iheme said his wife "confirmed" his suspicions about the child that day.
When Hennepin County District Judge Mel Dickstein politely cut off Iheme's speech to sentence him, the judge said of the killing, "Your conduct was horrific by any measure."
Iheme didn't care about his wife's life or the lives of their children, Dickstein said. The judge noted that 30 percent of the homicides in this country are related to domestic violence. "You should lose your freedom for as long as the law permits," Dickstein said. He sentenced Iheme to the maximum: nearly 32 years in prison.
No family members spoke for Anthonia Iheme. Russell said the family lives out of state.
Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747
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