Caleb Flynn, a former music pastor and 2013 contestant on American Idol, wept profusely in court on Monday after the court sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for murdering his wife, Ashley Flynn.

“The layers of deceit, manipulation and cruelty are hard to fathom,” U.S. judge Jeanine Pratt said in her ruling. “And you used your faith to manipulate the lives of others.”

Mr Flynn, 40, was convicted by a jury of murder and eight other charges, including tampering with evidence. Mrs Flynn, a 37-year-old teacher and volleyball coach, was killed in February.

Mr Flynn claimed a burglar broke into his house and killed his wife in the bedroom while he was asleep on the couch. However, his smart devices, including his iPhone and Apple Watch, showed the defendant was active and not sleeping around the time of the murder.

Prosecutors proved that Mr Flynn shot his sleeping wife twice in the back of her head and staged a break-in to blame a burglar. They said he cheated on his wife and murdered her to avoid a messy divorce and a prolonged legal custody battle over their two children.

Prosecutors also argued he did not want to lose his job at his father-in-law’s construction company, where he earned $200,000 annually and was on his way to becoming a shareholder.

Testimonies from multiple witnesses, including chats with his mistress, Alleigha Botner, further implicated him and corroborated the prosecutors’ argument.

“I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally thinking of ways to kill her and not go to jail,” Mr Flynn said in a message to Ms Botner which was tendered as evidence. I just want her dead and gone,” the 40-year-old wrote in one of his 100,000 messages to Ms Botner.

Jurors listened to several AI-generated songs that Mr Flynn made for his lover during the trial. She testified that Mr Flynn had confessed his bitter hatred for his wife and that he admitted to nursing thoughts of her murder.

But Mr Flynn insisted, between tears, that he did not kill his wife and that he would continue to fight for her innocence.

“I have unfortunately lied about a lot of things over the last couple of years. But as I stand here before God, who is my ultimate judge, I am not lying when I say I did not kill my wife,” Mr Flynn said. “I will continue to fight for my innocence as long as the Lord allows me to, since I did not kill my wife.”

His daughters, in their letters, urged him to confess to the murder, noting, “The least you can do is tell everyone you did it.”

“Dear Caleb,” Alyssa, Mr Flynn’s daughter, wrote, addressing him by name to disregard his fatherhood. “Ashley Flynn was the best thing that ever happened to you. You had the best life ever, and you decided to throw it away for a girl who was half your age. You made me feel like an idiot thinking I could trust you.”

“Mommy was the perfect person, the absolute perfect person—what did she ever do to make you hate her so much?,” Ava, his second daughter, wrote.

He wailed as the letters were read aloud in the courtroom. Mr Flynn’s lawyer said he would appeal the ruling, arguing that evidence of infidelity cannot be interpreted as murder since the murder weapon was never found.

But prosecutors stood by their argument that Mr Flynn carefully planned the murder to appear as a victim.

“The evidence showed that being the victim would allow the defendant to keep his lucrative job working for Ashley’s family business, he would benefit from Ashley’s life insurance, and he could keep his position as a working worship leader with zero impact to his reputation within the church,” Miami County assistant prosecutor Matthew Joseph said in his closing argument on September 29. “The evidence does not tell the story of an intruder.”