DECATUR - Robert E. Nicholson, 54, was sentenced to 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on Tuesday after being found guilty in June of strangling his 57-year-old wife, Donna, to death.

A Macon County jury convicted Nicholson on June 13 in a highly circumstantial murder case that included Nicholson suggesting in testimony that an intruder had attacked, strangled and robbed his wife.

Prosecutors pointed the finger at Nicholson in the Aug. 1, 2007, murder because of the couple's volatile relationship and the evidence that the killer had gone to the trouble of putting the woman's blood-smeared glasses back in their case after she was killed. They contended a robber wouldn't worry about her glasses.

At the sentencing hearing, assistant state's attorneys Tammara Wagoner and Brian Shaw asked the judge to consider Nicholson's numerous run-ins when the law when it came to domestic violence, even before his wife's death.

Associate Judge Timothy Steadman objected to testimony about one case in which Nicholson was acquitted but allowed into evidence a videotaped statement that Donna Nicholson had made in 2005 to police after she said her husband had beaten and stomped on her. That case eventually was dropped by prosecutors.

Defense attorney Gary Geisler submitted a letter from Nicholson's sister pleading with the judge for leniency and argued against Steadman giving his client the maximum sentence of 45 years because that would mean he'd likely die in prison.

He also asked the judge for mercy because there was no evidence Nicholson planned or premeditated his wife's death.

In a statement in allocution, Nicholson asked the court for leniency citing his good behavior in his 13 months in the Macon County Jail and asked for the minimum of 20 years in prison.

"I am not a troublemaker, your honor," he said.

But Shaw argued the murder was made more heinous in that Nicholson killed his spouse and had not shown remorse.

Steadman said each side had some good points. He said he was taking into consideration the man's age and that he is required to serve 100 percent of his sentence, but also that Nicholson had previously been convicted of domestic violence and sentenced to batterer counseling, but the treatment had failed.

Steadman said he was confident that when released in 30 years Nicholson wouldn't be able to "do any damage to another woman or anyone else."

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