James Prokopovitz PHOTO: Brown County Jail
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — James Prokopovitz will spend the rest of his life in prison, and will not have any opportunity for parole.
Prokopovitz, 75, who was convicted in February of killing his wife, Victoria, back in 2013, said nothing as the judge handed down his sentence.
Judge William Atkinson had a message for Prokopovitz before handing down the final decision.
“Life’s incredibly precise, and it’s all too short. To take away Victoria’s life at that time is just so wrong in every aspect,” Atkinson said. “She had a right to continue living. The fact that she suffered from depression, so what? That didn’t diminish her right to live.”
Atkinson also said that Prokopovitz’s actions played a significant role in his girlfriend, Kathryn Friday, taking her own life the day her sentencing was set to begin.
Victoria’s body has never been found.
Several of Victoria’s children read emotional victim impact statements during the trial in which they begged Prokopovitz to say where he put their mother’s body.
“You did kill her. You did dispose of her body. And you refuse at this moment and will continue to refuse to tell where it is,” Atkinson said. “I’m hoping that maybe after a while in prison, it probably won’t be a day or a month or even a year, maybe even a couple of years, you’ll decide to give the answers to the children.”
On top of the first-degree intentional homicide sentence, Prokopovitz was also received three months for misdemeanor obstructing an officer, as well as bifurcated sentences of six years for conspiracy to commit perjury and another six years for committing perjury.
He is expected to appeal.
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