OGDEN — A judge sentenced Joseph Weatherspoon to six years to life in prison Thursday for the brutal stabbing death of his girlfriend, Johanna McCann, 37, whose body Weatherspoon dumped near Pineview Reservoir last year.

Second District Judge Brent West sentenced Weatherspoon, 52, for the first-degree felony murder, with the sentence carrying an extra year because a weapon was involved.

Prosecutors say Weatherspoon stabbed McCann repeatedly, slashed her face and left her to bleed to death in the apartment they shared, then went about his regular activities as if nothing was wrong and, at night, dumped her body.

West suggested the crime was puzzling considering that Weatherspoon has one conviction for domestic violence from years ago but has, from all appearances, led an otherwise good life, including refereeing youth sports. "This does seem to be out of character," West said.

Still, the judge termed the crime itself "a brutal slaying" and added there were aggravating factors including walking away from a dying McCann, whom medical experts said could have been saved even after she was attacked, and the insensitive way Weatherspoon treated her body.

"It was wrong, Mr. Weatherspoon, it was wrong," West said.

Defense attorney John Caine said Weatherspoon can't explain why he did what he did and is "devastated" by it. "His remorse is genuine and his feeling for the family is genuine," Caine said, adding later that Weatherspoon should not be judged by one day in his life.

But prosecutor Gary Heward denounced the viciousness of the crime and the coldness of Weatherspoon's subsequent behavior — shampooing the carpet, washing away blood, even refereeing a game, as if nothing had happened. Heward said Weatherspoon for years has been fooling people into thinking he's a nice guy, but "that individual sitting there is not the person everyone thinks he is."

Weatherspoon addressed the court briefly, saying he prayed daily that God will heal McCann's family and he hopes one day for their forgiveness.

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Nancy Messerly, McCann's mother, held up pictures of her slain daughter and tearfully asked Weatherspoon why he killed McCann when he had told her he loved and proposed marriage at a Christmas family gathering. "The pain my family has gone through is unbelievable," Messerly said, noting that McCann's 16-year-old son now has no mother.

If there was a disagreement or even if the couple was breaking up, there are choices besides murder. "You could have walked away," Messerly said.

McCann's father, Craig Messerly, also decried the senseless of the crime in an emotion-choked voice: "He brutally murdered her and disposed of her body like a piece of garbage."


E-mail: lindat@desnews.com

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