TEEN-AGER GIVEN LIFE FOR KILLING

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Joshua A. Wolf wept softly Monday after a judge sentenced the teen-ager to life in prison without possibility of parole for killing the grandmother who raised him.

Following a four-day trial in April, a Boone County jury convicted Wolf of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and second-degree arson in connection with the May 6, 2000, death of Carol Jean Lindley, 56.

Authorities said Wolf, 17, killed his grandmother with a rifle shot to the head and two days later set fire to their Cape Girardeau County home to cover up the murder.

Because prosecutors didn't pursue the death penalty, Wolf faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole on the murder count. Boone County Circuit Judge Frank Conley accepted the jury's recommendation that Wolf receive the maximum penalties for the other two crimes life for armed criminal action and seven years for arson. Conley ordered the sentences run concurrently.

Wolf made no comment other than one-word answers to questions from the judge.

William Lindley of Columbus, Ohio, Wolf's grandfather and the husband of the victim, said following the sentencing that his grandson needed mental help, not prison. Wolf's attorney had pursued a defense of not guilty by reason of mental defect.

"I raised Josh; I know Josh," Lindley said. "The jury didn't know him. We live in the most powerful country in the world, but our legal system has flaws. This shows one of those flaws."

Lindley, who testified at trial that Wolf had a history of mental problems, accused Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle of a lack of compassion.

"You have a prosecutor who is out for glory, in my mind," Lindley said. "He knows Josh has problems, yet he did whatever he could" to put him in prison.

Swingle said he was pleased Conley chose to follow the jury's sentencing recommendation.

"It was clear to the jury that Joshua did understand what he was doing when he committed this crime and that he was trying to get away with murder," he said.

Swingle said prison rather than a mental institution is the right place for Wolf.

"They have said he is suicidal. That is not necessarily uncommon for people going to prison for the first time. The prison has experience in making sure prisoners do not hurt themselves," Swingle said.

No decision on appeal

Lindley said losing "the love of my life" and having his grandson first accused then convicted of the crime has taken a tremendous personal toll on him. Lindley said a decision hadn't been made on whether his grandson would appeal.

Wolf had been in custody at the Biggs Forensic Center, a state mental facility at Fulton, Mo. Conley ordered Wolf immediately moved across town to the Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center, a maximum security prison.

Defense attorney Stephen Wilson of Cape Girardeau had asked Conley to leave Wolf at the Biggs center, where Wilson said the teen has recently been under suicide watch.

Conley also dismissed Wilson's motion for a new trial. Wilson argued that a videotaped confession to police should have been excluded from evidence; Swingle had made prejudicial statements in his closing arguments; and the evidence was insufficient to establish Wolf committed the murder after "cool reflection," a necessary element in proving first-degree murder.

Because of the defense strategy, the trial featured a great deal of expert testimony on mental illnesses.

Three experts called by the defense testified Wolf was neither in control of his actions at the time of the crimes nor legally responsible for them. However, the experts each offered differing diagnoses as to Wolf's specific mental illness.

Prosecution experts said Wolf's only mental disorder was depression stemming from incarceration following his arrest.

Shopping spree

Wolf and Carol Lindley had moved from Ohio to 175 Piaute Lane in unincorporated Cape Girardeau County just weeks prior to the murder. Lindley had taken an administrative job at St. Francis Medical Center. William Lindley was to join the family a few months later after becoming eligible to retire from his job.

According to testimony and evidence at trial, Wolf shot Lindley during the afternoon of May 6, a Saturday. Automatic-teller-machine and store receipts show Wolf made numerous financial withdrawals using Lindley's bank card and went on a shopping spree shortly after the established time of death.

Swingle argued greed was the motive for the murder, although the evidence supporting that conclusion was weak.

On May 8, a Monday, he went to school at R.O. Hawkins Junior High in Jackson, Mo., told his teachers he would be returning to Ohio to finish the school year and turned in his books.

That afternoon he set fire to the home and placed a 911 call saying the house was on fire, and he was trapped in the basement. Wolf escaped without injury.

In the early morning hours of May 9, Wolf confessed to police after more than 80 minutes of questioning.

In the most sordid detail of the case, Wolf told a detective that he had engaged in intercourse with his grandmother's corpse. When asked about that during his trial, Wolf said: "It possibly happened. I don't know for sure."

The body was too badly damaged by fire for forensic investigators to determine if that had occurred.

Wolf, who buried his head in his arms and sobbed throughout his trial, said he suffered hallucinations the day of the murder, including looking in the mirror and thinking he was the devil.

Court proceedings were moved from Cape Girardeau County to Boone County because of pre-trial publicity.