NE Ohioan sentenced to life in wife's stabbing death

In this photo taken on Monday, Dec. 16, 2013, a prosecutors office employee pushes Leslie Gregg, of Brookpark, Ohio, the uncle of Holly Dembie, towards the doors of the courtroom during his outburst directed at William Dembie as Dembie was giving a statement to the court during a sentencing hearing in Elyria, Ohio. William Dembie, who dropped his wife out of a second-floor window during an argument and then fatally stabbed her with a combat knife, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday. (AP Photo/Chronicle-Telegram, Bruce Biship)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

William Dembie sits and listens as the judge reads off the sentencing in his murder trial during a sentencing hearing in Elyria today.

ELYRIA, Ohio — A northeast Ohio man who dropped his wife out of a second-floor window during an argument and then stabbed her to death with a combat knife has been sentenced to life in prison.

A judge in Elyria, west of Cleveland, sentenced William Dembie Jr., 45, on Monday in the August 2011 slaying of his 33-year-old wife, Holly. He was convicted of murder, felonious assault and domestic violence this month.

The sentencing was interrupted by Holly Dembie’s uncle, who tried to charge the defendant and had to be restrained, according to The (Elyria) Chronicle-Telegram.

“You cut her throat twice! You stabbed her eight times! You cold-blooded ... killer!” Leslie Gregg yelled after Dembie criticized his slain wife’s mother in court. Family members and a staff member from the prosecutor’s office had to push him out of the courtroom.

Prosecutors said William Dembie argued with his wife about their failing marriage before going after her with a military-style knife, then allowing her drop out of a second-floor bathroom window as she was trying to escape. He went outside and repeatedly stabbed her in and near her neck before calling to report he had almost beheaded her.

“I had no right doing what I did,” Dembie said Monday. “Obviously, I wasn’t thinking. I was in a place where I had no control over my actions.”

He’ll be eligible for parole after 20 years.