Former "American Idol" contestant Caleb Flynn is scheduled to be sentenced Monday, with prosecutors asking an Ohio judge to send him to prison for life without the possibility of parole for murdering his wife.
asserted
prosecutors → schedule → wife
Flynn is expected back in a Miami County courtroom at 3 p.m. for sentencing before Judge Jeannine N. Pratt, less than a week after a jury convicted him on all nine charges in the killing of Ashley Flynn.
asserted
jury → expect → Flynn
Prosecutors asked Pratt in a sentencing memorandum filed Monday to impose life without parole for aggravated murder, along with the maximum allowable sentences on additional charges that do not merge.
asserted
that → ask → charges
Flynn's attorneys are pushing in the opposite direction, asking Pratt to impose a sentence that would give him the possibility of parole after serving time behind bars.
asserted
that → push → bars
Flynn continues to maintain his innocence and intends to appeal his conviction, his attorneys wrote.
asserted
attorneys → continue → conviction
Prosecutors argued the circumstances demand the harshest sentence available, accusing Flynn of planning Ashley's murder for months and showing no remorse.
asserted
circumstances → argue → remorse
Jurors found Flynn guilty of aggravated murder, three counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault and three counts of tampering with evidence after roughly 2½ hours of deliberations.
asserted
Flynn → find → deliberations
His defense argued that Flynn has no prior criminal history and is capable of rehabilitation, pointing to his years working in ministry and letters of support from his family.
asserted
Flynn → argue → family
Flynn's parents were among several relatives who wrote to Pratt asking for mercy ahead of sentencing.
asserted
who → write → sentencing
His father, Mike Flynn, told the judge his son's "brokenness, shame, and remorse" were genuine, while his mother, Kim Flynn, wrote that her son had "repented to his Lord" and was remorseful for his decisions.
asserted
son → tell → decisions
Both asked Pratt for mercy.
asserted
Both → ask → mercy
Prosecutors sharply disputed that portrayal, arguing Flynn has never accepted responsibility or shown genuine remorse.
asserted
Flynn → dispute → remorse
They are asking Pratt to sentence him to life without the possibility of parole.
asserted
They → ask → parole
The verdict capped a trial that exposed Flynn's secret affair, thousands of messages with his mistress and exchanges about wanting his wife dead before she was shot twice in the back of the head inside the couple's Tipp City home Feb. 16.
asserted
she → cap → home
Prosecutors argued Flynn killed Ashley before staging the scene to make it appear an intruder had broken into the home.
asserted
intruder → argue → home
Flynn's affair with Alleigha Botner became a key part of the case.
asserted
affair → become → case
Investigators recovered roughly 107,000 messages between the two, with prosecutors highlighting some of those exchanges for jurors.
asserted
prosecutors → recover → jurors
Jurors saw messages in which Flynn discussed wanting his wife dead and contemplated ways she could be killed without him going to prison.
uncertain
him → see → prison
Botner also read messages exchanged in the hours before Ashley's death, including Flynn telling her, "It's happening" and "Tomorrow it all starts."
asserted
it → read → her
In another exchange, Botner told Flynn, "You're about to be free."
asserted
You → tell → Flynn
Flynn's defense argued the messages were being taken out of context and that references to being "free" meant divorce rather than murder.
asserted
references → argue → murder
Investigators never recovered the murder weapon, and Flynn was never tested for gunshot residue.
asserted
Flynn → recover → residue
Jurors heard testimony about searches of storm drains, culverts, the Flynn home and other locations as investigators tried unsuccessfully to find the gun.
asserted
investigators → hear → gun
Flynn had pleaded not guilty.
asserted
Flynn → plead → ?
He visibly broke down as the guilty verdicts were read Sept. 29, shaking and wiping tears from his face as jurors convicted him count by count.
asserted
jurors → break → count
The Aporia
