Gardena man sentenced to 29 years to life for trying to kill wife

During a long and emotional sentencing hearing today, family of the former couple known as Lavell and Denise Gatewood cried over the wreckage that is their lives since Gatewood tried to kill Mrs. Gatewood in December 2006. His family maintains he is a good but troubled man who had no intention to kill his wife of 20 years. She and her family mourned the man they once knew as loving and kind, and spoke of how his three children are left fatherless - and praised God that they still have their mother.

Deputy District Attorney Jodi Link, a veteran of these types of cases, said the thought this was the "saddest" sentencing she'd ever seen. More than one family member lamented the fact that there are "no winners" here. Defense attorney Winston McKesson asked Torrance Superior Court Judge James Brandlin to reduce the conviction to assault, but Brandlin said the verdict is supported by the evidence.

Brandlin sentenced Gatewood to 29 years to life in prison - a few years shy of the maximum prescribed by law.