Man Convicted Of Killing Wife & Burying Her Body Sentenced To 30 Years
HOWARD COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) -- Sentenced. A Howard County man gets the maximum 30-year prison sentence for killing his wife and burying her body under a shed.
Alex DeMetrick reports it was a crime that went unsolved for two decades.
Bobby Jarrett Jr. carried photos of his mom, himself and his younger brother Michael to Howard County court. He was 10 when Christine Jarrett went missing in 1991. Twenty-one years later, police found her body buried under floorboards and concrete of his family's backyard shed.
His father, Robert Jarrett, was convicted of second-degree murder in what the jury viewed as an unplanned act of rage.
At sentencing, the son told the judge:
"When my father took my mother's life, he murdered who Michael and I could become. The 21 years my mother spent buried under a shed in the backyard has played a starring role in many night terrors where I wake up screaming."
"It was very difficult to write that impact statement," Bobby Jarrett Jr. said. "Because it's been 21 years, and, you know, we had to really look back at our entire lives and just realize the manipulation and the deceit through all these years."
Jarrett's lawyer argued his client was a good father to the boys, but the judge didn't see it that way, saying:
"I think that Mr. Jarrett's conduct was to help only one person--him. He's a monster hiding behind the softness of human skin."
"I think he got it dead on," said Jarrett Jr.
The judge sentenced Jarrett to 30 years--the maximum punishment.
The defense was asking for less prison time, and believes the judge's punishment was made for the wrong reasons.
"And I think it's simply because the judge didn't sentence him for the crime. He sentenced him for the way she was disposed of," said George Psoras, Jarrett's lawyer.
Jarrett was led away for the trip to prison. He will turn 89 if he serves his full sentence.
"We're just very happy with the judge's words and the sentence," said Jarrett Jr.
Robert Jarrett's lawyer has already filed an appeal on his client's behalf.
