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Man Gets 227 Years For Killing Wife, Cemetery Standoff

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man convicted of killing his wife then firing and driving at police during a standoff at a Glendale cemetery has been sentenced to 227 years to life in prison, a published report said Saturday.

Superior Court Judge John Fisher gave the sentence to Rene Munoz, 39, on Friday and denied a motion from his attorney for a new trial, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times.

As he was led to jail, Munoz shouted protests of an unfair trial.

In May, a jury found that Munoz shot his wife Kelly Collins-McCowen during a dispute outside a bowling alley in LA's Wilshire area on April 3, 2008. Collins-McCowen later died at a hospital.

Two hours after the killing, security guards called police when they found Munoz sitting in his Cadillac Escalade next to graves at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, the massive cemetery that straddles Glendale and northeastern Los Angeles, police said.

Glendale officers approached the car and Munoz fired at them, police and prosecutors said.

The officers sealed off the cemetery, and after three hours of negotiations, they said Munoz suddenly drove the SUV down the hill at high speed toward officers, who then shot and wounded him.

Munoz was hospitalized and arrested.

Immediately after his sentencing, Munoz asked to speak.

"It wasn't a fair trial," he said. "There was not substantial evidence."

He continued talking loudly after the judge ordered him to be jailed.

"I had a bullet in my head when they shot me," he said.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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