Terrance DeChaney, the Coon Rapids man who wanted his estranged wife beaten to death and was willing to pay $10,000 to a stranger to act as a hit man, was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail.

"You still don't get it," Anoka County Judge Thomas Fitzpatrick told DeChaney after hearing his apparent lack of remorse, prosecutor Paul Young reported.

DeChaney, 45, had agreed to enter an Alford plea to charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder last June. By doing so, DeChaney maintained his innocence but acknowledged there was sufficient evidence to be found guilty.

According to court documents, DeChaney said he wanted to "get back at his wife," to ensure that he got full custody of their three children.

He'd have the money to pay for her murder after her insurance policy was paid off, he told the hit man he was about to hire.

But that hit man, whom DeChaney thought was the brother-in-law of an acquaintance, was an Anoka County undercover detective.

DeChaney's trial in December resulted in a hung-jury mistrial. He pleaded guilty in January. In addition to a year in jail, he received a stayed prison sentence of 15 years, must undergo a psychological evaluation and will not be allowed to see his children.

"I am very pleased with the outcome in this case," DeChaney's attorney, Ryan Garry, said Wednesday. "It was a long and fair trial. Following three days of deliberation, the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. Accordingly, the judge declared a mistrial. Had the jury come back with a guilty verdict, my client could have been sentenced to serve 216 months in prison."

Paul Levy • 612-673-4419