PROVO — Robert Steven Hatch began serving two life terms in prison on Friday for the 2002 murder of his estranged wife, despite mounting an argument during the sentencing hearing that someone else murdered his estranged wife.
Hatch, reading from law books as handcuffs dangled from his left wrist, stood before 4th District Court Judge Fred Howard and presented an unusual 30-minute legal argument about mistakes he believed Howard made during the trial last year.
"The first thing I want to stress to this court, and it's more fact than opinion, is that I'm an innocent man," Hatch said.
The judge, who would hear Hatch's expected motion for a new trial in May, wasn't convinced that Hatch's criminal history should have been kept from the jury that convicted him in November.
"I am comfortable with the ruling, and I believe it was the correct one," said Howard, who called the shotgun killing of Sharee Nelson Hatch in June 2002 "the unfortunate result of long and unabated domestic violence and the product of premeditation."
Howard also said the crime "left the community and society in shock and dismay." He ordered Hatch to serve consecutive terms of five years to life for first-degree murder and first-degree burglary. Hatch also must serve zero to five years for violation of a protective order.
Sharee Nelson's family members said the sentence, which arrived more than four months after the verdict, was the beginning of closure. However, they promised decades of vigilance to see that Hatch remains behind bars.
"I guarantee it will be a life sentence," said Andrea Leek, who is planning legal action to have her younger sister's maiden name restored. "No matter what I have to do and my family has to do with the parole board, we will make sure it's a life sentence."
One of Hatch's sisters pledged similar devotion to a campaign to clear his name.
"I don't care if it takes me one year, five years or 10 years, I will prove he's innocent," said the woman, who requested anonymity. "He did not do this. We both have losses here, and we're hurting, too."
The overt hostility between the two families began July 7, 2002, when Hatch broke into his former home in Spanish Fork, raced up the stairs and burst into the master bedroom, then shot his estranged wife twice with a sawed-off shotgun.
Near the end of Hatch's statement Friday, a member of the Nelson family told Hatch to "shut up." Then Hatch sat down and listened as four people spoke on Sharee Nelson's behalf and described him and his family as "sick and twisted."
Calling Hatch "insane and evil," Leek said, "Steve, I loathe your very existence. I am not nor ever will be afraid of you or your family."
Hatch refused to allow his family to speak and continued to point a finger at Mike Pino, who was living with Sharee Nelson when she died. Pino testified he was in the bedroom's walk-in closet during the shooting, looking for a weapon to use against the intruder.
Police began to look for Hatch immediately after the murder based on a lie told by Pino, who said he saw a man who matched Hatch's description in the hallway after the shooting. Hatch was arrested in Helper that night. However, Pino later recanted and said he'd never seen the killer.
However, prosecutors presented evidence that DNA found on a sock Hatch wore when he was arrested matched Sharee Nelson.
Nelson was 31 when she died and had four children. The two youngest, whom she had with Hatch, are 5 and 2 and live with an aunt and uncle. Her 12-year-old daughter attended the sentencing.
Alleged but unspecified threats led officials to dispatch nearly 20 police officers to the courthouse on the day the jury returned its verdict, including snipers positioned on the roof. On Friday, four deputies from the Utah County Sheriff's Office monitored the hearing, two sitting directly behind Hatch at the defense table.
Howard scheduled a restitution hearing May 25 to discuss the prosecution's request for a $25,000 judgment to create a reparation fund. He extended deadlines until then for Hatch and his new attorney, Phil Danielson, to file notice of appeal and the motion for a new trial.
Danielson was appointed to the case last month. Hatch could no longer afford to pay Gregory Skordas, who represented him at trial.
Danielson agreed that Hatch's pre-sentence argument was unusual.
"I've never seen somebody do it before," he said.
Hatch, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge for striking his wife about 15 months before her death, said the introduction of that conviction spoiled the jury's objectivity.
Leek said Sharee Nelson's family was happy with the verdict.
"I'm going to go to Sharee's grave right now and tell her we won."
E-mail: twalch@desnews.com