FORT COLLINS — A man who brutally beat a process server to death in May 2008 and then tried to kill his two young children was sentenced to life in prison today without possibility of parole after being called heartless and a monster by the victim’s friends and family.
James Whitler also was sentenced to two consecutive 24-year-sentences for the attempted murder of his son, 11, and daughter, 13.
Larimer District Judge Daniel Kaup told Whitler he could have merely accepted the divorce papers from Stephen Allen on May 28, 200,8 and moved on with his life. But instead, Whitler beat Allen to death with a baseball bat and then tried to stab his daughter and strangle both children unconscious.
“This didn’t have to end this way,” Kaup told Whitler before passing sentence.
A Larimer County jury convicted Whitler last month of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. Whitler’s lawyers argued that he “snapped” when he got his divorce papers and didn’t plan to kill Allen.
But they also heard testimony that Whitler tried to turn his two children against their mother.
Prosecutors, during the trial, showed a video interview with Whitler’s son two days after Allen was killed in which the boy said he hated his mother and that his dad was “nicest person alive.”
Kaup pointed out that Whitler – who promised his children he would get them out of his house after killing Allen – stabbed his daughter in an attempt to make her forget the killing.
The girl’s little brother tried to protect her by hitting Whitler with a wooden sword. Whitler strangled the boy and only the arrival of police saved both the children’s lives, Kaup said.
“You not only broke your promise to your children,” Kaup said. “But you nearly took their lives as well.”
Sara Vanderheyden, who is the children’s teacher, told Kaup that Whitler fooled everyone with his talk of being a good Christian and family man.
“He has lied, stolen and cheated,” Vanderheyden said. “In the end, he only cared about himself.”
