An Ault man suspected of suffocating his wife on Christmas Eve in 2011 pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of second-degree murder in Weld District Court.
Matthew Patrick Gunsallus, 31, originally faced one count of first-degree murder. That charge was dropped as part of a plea deal with the Weld District Attorney’s Office. Gunsallus was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison.
But the punishment didn’t fit the crime for Christopher Lujan, who is the father of the victim, Kristen Elizabeth Lujan. She was 25 at the time of the murder, Christopher Lujan said.
In an emotional and profanity-laced statement, Christopher Lujan expressed his disapproval with the deal struck by the district attorney’s office, telling Weld District Court Judge Thomas Quammen he never signed off on the plea agreement and that it should be up to the family to determine how Gunsallus should be punished.
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