A husband who battered his wife in front of their three children on a cruise to celebrate their wedding anniversary has been sentenced to 30 years behind bars.
43-year-old Kenneth Manzanares from Utah was sentenced to 30 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder of his wife Kristy Manzanares, 39.
In July 2017, Manzanares beat his wife to death onboard the Emerald Princess cruise ship to Alaska where they were celebrating with their daughters and other relatives.
Manzanares blamed Kristy for laughing at him, with other passengers shocked by the bloodbath while others mistook it for a dramatized murder mystery that had been set up as entertainment.
The couple had gotten into a heated argument in their room and Kristy allegedly said that she wanted a divorce.
US District Court Judge Timothy Burgess announced the decision on Thursday and slammed the husband’s crimes as brutal and violent.
Manzanares had sought a lenient 7 1/2 year sentence, citing brain abnormalities and bipolar disorder.
The filing also stated that “a problematic combination of prescribed medication and alcohol resulted in an aberrant episode of violence.”
The 43-year-old played football, boxed, and wrestled when he was younger and had a history of ‘testosterone supplementation.’
However, Burgess said that there was competing evidence offered about Manzanares’ culpability and that experts did not show what factors resulted in the crime.
Acting US Attorney Bryan Wilson of the District of Alaska said that the murder was ‘not a random act of violence but a chilling neglect for human life.’
“While today’s sentence will not bring Kristy back to her family and friends, we hope it provides a sense of justice for this heinous crime and brings some closure to those who knew and cared about her.”
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