DES MOINES, Iowa -- A man convicted of killing his estranged wife said Friday at his sentencing that he has no remorse for her death.
Exactly one year ago Thursday, a hostage situation in Des Moines ended with TereseAnn Lynch Moore dead and a police officer injured.
Randall Moore was convicted of kidnapping and killing TereseAnn Lynch Moore. Randall Moore also shot Des Moines officer Todd Roland.
Moore was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for TereseAnn's death and 25 years in prison for shooting Roland.
From Moore throwing insults at his victim's mother to Moore's several minute tirade in court to a fight over TereseAnn Lynch Moore's childhood pictures, which Moore said should burn in hell, court experts said the sentencing was unprecedented.
But then, veteran Judge Joel Novak got a turn to talk. Novak told Moore that it's not TereseAnn's personal belongings burning in hell Moore should be concerned with.
Novak told the court that "if anybody didn't know what a piece of work you are before this sentencing, they know now."
"The court doesn't allow me to punish you any more than I'm doing now. If I could, I would," said Novak.
Before the sentencing, Moore and family members had a chance to read victim impact statements. Moore spoke for close to 11 minutes.
In His Own Words: Randall Moore
"I'll tell you point blank, I have not once ounce of remorse for TereseAnn's death. It could have all been prevented. All you had to do was let me see my kid. Now you're never going to see her again.
"You give me every single item you took back from my property and I might consider giving them back. If not, they can burn in hell. I don't care. You'll never see them again.
"I want to apologize to Todd Roland for shooting him. You know that day when you were laying on the ground behind the police car, Todd, I could have killed you. I could have shot you 25 times. I chose not to. Because you didn't pull your weapon on me. If you would have pulled your weapon on me, I'd have been her for another murder charge.
"I hope there's more cases just like this where people that don't want to let their spouse see their kids, I hope it happens more and more
"I had several no contact orders on me and you know what the funny thing is? The day after a no-contact order was put on me, that girl was laying in my bed with me. So she wasn't too worried about anything, it was just something to get a piece of paper to get me away, but then they always came back.
"The only thing I've ever done is push a woman in my life. You can think what you want, but that's my side of the story and I'm sticking to it."
In His Own Words: Judge Novak
"There's certain lines that a judge should not cross in terms of judicial propriety. I've always tried to live by that rule. And sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind. And if I do cross that line today, I'm willing to cross it and pay the consequences.
"Let me start off by saying if anything should burn in hell, it's not TereseAnn's yearbooks.
Novak talked about two other murder cases he has tried, including one on I-235 and a strangling case. "You three have so much in common. I can't believe it. Yeah, shake your head because you know you do."
"I can't believe what I've heard, but I'm really glad you had your right of allocution and you could say everything you said because if anybody didn't know what a piece of work you were before you started talking, they know it now.
"It's been said before and it can't be said enough. You're cowards. You truly are cowards. You prey on women, they give you their love. They give you their trust and you betray them. You betray it by physically and or mentally abusing these women and they stay with you.
"You guys can't understand why they leave such wonderful men, like you.
"You give a new meaning to the word evil.
"I've been doing this 31 years. I've never ever seen anybody like you. And I hope I never ever see anyone like you again.
"It means joined or attached. Now isn't that something? Because you've made sure that Levi can't be joined or attached to his mother again.
"I'm going to tell you something. I really would have to think that the Good Lord looks at somebody like you and has to say to himself 'Maybe there should be some exception to forgiveness and redemption for somebody like you.'"
In Her Own Words: TereseAnn's Mother
Once Randall Moore was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences, TereseAnn's mother, Sheila Lynch, told KCCI the blunt words from the judge were awesome.
"What you did to my daughter, TereseAnn Marie Lynch was evil, hateful and despicable. You couldn't destroy her spirit, so you took her life instead.
"Your evil, dark and disgusting persona could not stand to see her free and happy and so you brutally murdered her.
"There is no way to convey how much TereseAnn is missed, but she lives on in the hearts of her family and her friends and her son.
"You, on the other hand, will always represent the evil that I previously only guessed must be in this world.
"You are evil, hateful and disgusting. You are now dead and rotting and repulsive to me, but with timing and with God's help and with the help of TereseAnn's loving spirit, soon you will be absolutely nothing to me. I hope you forever remember the difference between TereseAnn and you."
Sheila Lynch Talks After Sentencing
"I'm OK, I'm more OK now than I think I have ever been through this entire process. It was better than I could have even hoped or dreamed for. Everyone got to say what they wanted to say including him and all he did was bury himself with what he said. He's going to be gone and that's what we want, more than anything. He's going to be gone and my daughter's going to live on in our hearts, in our memories and in our love for her. And he's going to be gone," said Sheila Lynch.
"The only thing that can be better is to do more for future domestic abuse victims. To have things in place that will help them more than the help that my daughter got at the time she needed it," said Sheila Lynch.
"He's very full of himself and you saw not one bit of remorse there. In fact, really arrogance toward the court and toward the whole process," said John Sarcone, Polk County Attorney. "He hasn't changed."
"A couple of times I wanted to laugh at the arrogance, at the stupidity," said Sheila Lynch.
"I shouldn't have been surprised. I know how arrogant he is. But the shock of what he could actually sit there and say and think that he's justifying what he did was amazing to me. He could say nothing worse than what he did to her. No words can be worse than what he did. He hung himself. I didn't have to do it for him," said Sheila Lynch.
"My daughter touched so many lives and in a way she also touched the judge," said Sheila Lynch. "The judge showed the humanity that all of us felt but he said it straight and directly from the legal system's point of view and it was wonderful."
The courtroom was filled and about a dozen deputies were present during the sentencing.
Look for much more on their emotional victim impact statements later today on KCCI.com and on KCCI-TV.
Previous Stories:
- October 13, 2010: Jury Announces Verdict In Moore Trial
- October 6, 2010: Jury Hears Opening Arguments In Moore Trial
- November 13, 2009: Friends Remember Slain Air Guard Member
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