Missouri man who killed wife gets 35-year federal sentence
A federal judge has barred a southeastern Missouri man, who killed the mother of his triplets amid a divorce, from profiting off a tell-all book about committing the murder that he helped write while behind bars.
The judge ruled on Tuesday that James Clay Waller, 47, of Jackson, Missouri, could not profit from the manuscript he helped write. The book is titled 'If You Take My Kids, I'll Kill You!': The Public Confession of Missouri's Most Notorious Wife Killers.
The judge also added another 35 years to the sentence James is serving for murdering his estranged wife and mother of his triplets, Jacque Sue Waller, in 2011.
James' additional prison sentence is related to a federal charge of interstate domestic violence.
A judge ruled that James Clay Waller cannot profit off a manuscript for book called 'If You Take My Kids, I'll Kill You!' He helped write the book while serving a 20-year prison sentence for murdering his wife, the mother of his triplets, Jacque Sue Waller (right) in 2011
James (in 2013) was also sentenced to an additional 35 years in prison on a federal charge of interstate domestic violence. He admitted that he had traveled from Illinois to Missouri with the intention of killing Jacque Sue and transported her body back across state lines to bury it
Through a plea deal, Waller had previously admitted to digging a grave for Jacque Sue, in 2011 on an island on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. He then spent the night with his girlfriend in Illinois.
James then admitted he traveled across state lines, back to Missouri, the next day with the intention to kill Jacque Sue.
After a meeting at a divorce lawyer's office, James said he lured his estranged wife to his home in Jackson, where he beat and strangled her to death, according to the plea. He then used a boat to transport her body across the Mississippi River so he could bury her in the grave he had dug there, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said.
The Wallers' triplets were five years old at the time.
In exchange for leading investigators to Jacque Sue's body two years later, Waller was sentenced to 20 years in state prison for second-degree murder. The state sentence, which came in 2013, will run at the same time as the federal sentence.
James and Jacque Sue were in the middle of a divorce when he decided to murder her in 2011
The Wallers' triplets (pictured with Jacque Sue in an undated photo) were five years old when their father killed their mother. They are currently being raised by Jacque Sue's sister
When Waller is released from prison, the triplets will be about 38 years old
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Share'Well, of course we wanted life, but since that wasn't available, we'll be happy with this,' Jacque Waller's sister, Cheryl Brenneke, who is raising the triplets, told the Southeast Missourian.
'He would be around 73, and the kids would be about 38 when he gets out, and at that point, they'll be old enough to handle him and his manipulations, and my mom and dad won't be around, so they were good with that.'
Federal prosecutors said in court filings that the interstate domestic violence charge was driven by Cape Girardeau officials' dissatisfaction with the 20-year prison term Waller received as part of the 2013 plea deal.
Prosecutors wrote the interstate domestic violence charge was given to 'protect the citizens from a dangerous, sociopathic and narcissistic murderer.'
Waller's lawyer, John Lynch, had argued that the discovery of the 182-page manuscript prompted prosecutors to try giving Waller more time for the same crime. Lynch said that while the actual author was someone else and that the manuscript was 'in bad taste (perhaps an understatement),' prosecution for it would be a violation of Waller's free speech rights.
In the manuscript, Waller said that his love for his children and his unwillingness to separate from them through divorce was what drove him to kill his wife.
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