DARLINGTON - Armin Wand III is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for the deaths of his three young sons, following an emotional hearing during which his wife told him he'd be "locked up in a cage like the animal you are."
Wand, 33, slouched and hung his head for most of the hearing Wednesday, April 17, before a sparsely filled Lafayette County courtroom. When the judge gave him the opportunity to speak, he declined.
State prosecutor Roy Korte said Wand has shown no remorse for the Sept. 7 house fire in Argyle that killed his three boys, Allen Wand, 7, Jeffery Wand, 5, and Joseph "Jo Jo" Wand, 3. Wand's pregnant wife, Sharon, was severely burned in the fire but survived along with their youngest, 2-year-old Jessica.
Wand pleaded guilty in February to setting the fire and is convicted of arson, felony murder by arson, three homicides and one attempted homicide. His 18-year-old brother, Jeremy Wand, is charged with helping him but has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go before a jury in July. As part of his plea agreement, the elder brother will have to testify against his younger brother.
The crime was cold and calculated, Korte said. Wand told investigators he set the fire so he could collect on his family's life insurance and get a "fresh start."
Things could have been different for Wand, Korte said. If his wife hadn't survived to tell her story, if a neighbor hadn't caught Wand try to put 2-year-old Jessica back in the burning house after she was saved, "he may have gotten away with it."
'You stood by and did nothing'
Sharon Wand came to the hearing Wednesday in a wheelchair. She was in a coma for two and a half months after the fire and treated for burns that covered 86 percent of her body.
"No one thought I would live," she said via a prepared statement read aloud in the court by victim witness specialist Jennifer Rhodes. As Rhodes read, Sharon clasped hands with her and Argyle Police Chief Hayley Saalsaa and sobbed quietly, her face red and contorted with pain.
Rhodes also choked up while reading the typed, four-page statement. Beside her, Sharon wiped tears from her eyes and added to a growing pile of damp, wadded tissues on the table in front of them. Much of the statement was directed at her husband, exposing him as abusive, controlling and "heartless."
"My unborn child was 18 weeks when you got your wish. You told me you would get rid of the baby one way or another and you did it. I lost the baby when I was in a coma in the hospital. I named her Dorothy Marie after my father's mother."
"If I could have one question answered, it would be why? Why would you take my children's lives away just so you could be free? If you wanted to be free I would have given you a divorce. Now I will give you a divorce so I can be free of you.
"Armin, do you think years from now anyone will remember your name? ... You always wanted to be someone. Now you are. You are no longer Armin Wand, the father, the husband. You got what you wanted, you are famous. You are the Armin Wand, the man who killed his children.
"My wish for you, Armin, is that you also never forget your children. ... May you never forget the warmth of their breath as they hugged you and whispered in your ear, 'I love you, Daddy.'
"When you close your eyes at night, alone in your cell, may the only sound you hear be the crying of your sons, begging for help, dying in pain. May you never forget their cries as you stood by and did nothing."
Sharon expects she will never again have full use of her arms and legs and will need to rely on a walker and on oxygen to survive. It has not dampened her will to live: "Jessica and I will start over and we will survive."
Asking for mercy
Her husband looked down and showed no emotion as Sharon's statement was read. His defense attorneys said that despite his closed-off demeanor, the case has emotionally affected him.
"Over and over and over again, Mr. Wand has stated 'I wish I had my family back,'" said public defender Jason Daane.
He asked the judge to consider Wand's low IQ and traumatic upbringing under the thumb of a severely alcoholic father who made fun of his stutter, berated him and encouraged the rest of the family to "pile on." Wand is not a criminal mastermind or even a very sophisticated criminal, Daane said. The arson plot was a "half-baked, get-rich-quick" fantasy that Wand "distilled from the fiction of television."
Wand is just one link in a cycle of abuse, Daane said. He asked the judge to have mercy on Wand and give him the chance for parole after decades in prison, when Wand is an elderly man.
"The evil of this act is tempered by Wand's naiveté," Daane said.
'Beyond comprehension'
Judge Thomas Vale allowed that Wand's "mildly retarded" intellectual abilities and rough upbringing explain his crime, but do not excuse it.
"Low IQ does not affect your ability to understand that this is going to hurt your child," he said. Wand's crimes are "horrendous and horrific," and with no assurance that he won't do it again, Vale said only a lifetime in prison is right.
"It's beyond comprehension," he said. "It's multiple homicides of your own children."
As he gave his sentence, Sharon held a tissue to her face and wept.
A pale Wand was ushered out of the courtroom and given a chance to see his mother in private, before the media and members of the public were allowed to exit. He will be taken first to the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun for an evaluation and a determination of where he will spend his maximum-security sentence.
Assistant State Public Defender Guy Taylor immediately said "yes" when asked if he was concerned about Wand's safety in prison.
"He's a very vulnerable individual," he said. The Lafayette County Jail has treated Wand with "exemplary and professional" care, Taylor added.
Korte reflected afterward that he's worked on other homicide cases in the past but "this is in a class by itself, just because these boys were so young, so defenseless."
"I've seen it all. The parents losing children is always the worst," Korte said.
Wand, 33, slouched and hung his head for most of the hearing Wednesday, April 17, before a sparsely filled Lafayette County courtroom. When the judge gave him the opportunity to speak, he declined.
State prosecutor Roy Korte said Wand has shown no remorse for the Sept. 7 house fire in Argyle that killed his three boys, Allen Wand, 7, Jeffery Wand, 5, and Joseph "Jo Jo" Wand, 3. Wand's pregnant wife, Sharon, was severely burned in the fire but survived along with their youngest, 2-year-old Jessica.
Wand pleaded guilty in February to setting the fire and is convicted of arson, felony murder by arson, three homicides and one attempted homicide. His 18-year-old brother, Jeremy Wand, is charged with helping him but has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go before a jury in July. As part of his plea agreement, the elder brother will have to testify against his younger brother.
The crime was cold and calculated, Korte said. Wand told investigators he set the fire so he could collect on his family's life insurance and get a "fresh start."
Things could have been different for Wand, Korte said. If his wife hadn't survived to tell her story, if a neighbor hadn't caught Wand try to put 2-year-old Jessica back in the burning house after she was saved, "he may have gotten away with it."
'You stood by and did nothing'
Sharon Wand came to the hearing Wednesday in a wheelchair. She was in a coma for two and a half months after the fire and treated for burns that covered 86 percent of her body.
"No one thought I would live," she said via a prepared statement read aloud in the court by victim witness specialist Jennifer Rhodes. As Rhodes read, Sharon clasped hands with her and Argyle Police Chief Hayley Saalsaa and sobbed quietly, her face red and contorted with pain.
Rhodes also choked up while reading the typed, four-page statement. Beside her, Sharon wiped tears from her eyes and added to a growing pile of damp, wadded tissues on the table in front of them. Much of the statement was directed at her husband, exposing him as abusive, controlling and "heartless."
"My unborn child was 18 weeks when you got your wish. You told me you would get rid of the baby one way or another and you did it. I lost the baby when I was in a coma in the hospital. I named her Dorothy Marie after my father's mother."
"If I could have one question answered, it would be why? Why would you take my children's lives away just so you could be free? If you wanted to be free I would have given you a divorce. Now I will give you a divorce so I can be free of you.
"Armin, do you think years from now anyone will remember your name? ... You always wanted to be someone. Now you are. You are no longer Armin Wand, the father, the husband. You got what you wanted, you are famous. You are the Armin Wand, the man who killed his children.
"My wish for you, Armin, is that you also never forget your children. ... May you never forget the warmth of their breath as they hugged you and whispered in your ear, 'I love you, Daddy.'
"When you close your eyes at night, alone in your cell, may the only sound you hear be the crying of your sons, begging for help, dying in pain. May you never forget their cries as you stood by and did nothing."
Sharon expects she will never again have full use of her arms and legs and will need to rely on a walker and on oxygen to survive. It has not dampened her will to live: "Jessica and I will start over and we will survive."
Asking for mercy
Her husband looked down and showed no emotion as Sharon's statement was read. His defense attorneys said that despite his closed-off demeanor, the case has emotionally affected him.
"Over and over and over again, Mr. Wand has stated 'I wish I had my family back,'" said public defender Jason Daane.
He asked the judge to consider Wand's low IQ and traumatic upbringing under the thumb of a severely alcoholic father who made fun of his stutter, berated him and encouraged the rest of the family to "pile on." Wand is not a criminal mastermind or even a very sophisticated criminal, Daane said. The arson plot was a "half-baked, get-rich-quick" fantasy that Wand "distilled from the fiction of television."
Wand is just one link in a cycle of abuse, Daane said. He asked the judge to have mercy on Wand and give him the chance for parole after decades in prison, when Wand is an elderly man.
"The evil of this act is tempered by Wand's naiveté," Daane said.
'Beyond comprehension'
Judge Thomas Vale allowed that Wand's "mildly retarded" intellectual abilities and rough upbringing explain his crime, but do not excuse it.
"Low IQ does not affect your ability to understand that this is going to hurt your child," he said. Wand's crimes are "horrendous and horrific," and with no assurance that he won't do it again, Vale said only a lifetime in prison is right.
"It's beyond comprehension," he said. "It's multiple homicides of your own children."
As he gave his sentence, Sharon held a tissue to her face and wept.
A pale Wand was ushered out of the courtroom and given a chance to see his mother in private, before the media and members of the public were allowed to exit. He will be taken first to the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun for an evaluation and a determination of where he will spend his maximum-security sentence.
Assistant State Public Defender Guy Taylor immediately said "yes" when asked if he was concerned about Wand's safety in prison.
"He's a very vulnerable individual," he said. The Lafayette County Jail has treated Wand with "exemplary and professional" care, Taylor added.
Korte reflected afterward that he's worked on other homicide cases in the past but "this is in a class by itself, just because these boys were so young, so defenseless."
"I've seen it all. The parents losing children is always the worst," Korte said.