Ex-’American Idol’ contestant Caleb Flynn sentenced to life without parole in wife’s murder

40-year-old Caleb Flynn listens to the judge read out the jury's verdict at the Miami County Court of Common Pleas on Sept. 29 in Troy, Ohio.Pool via NBC NewsShareAdd NBC News to GoogleBy Alicia Victoria LozanoA former Ohio music pastor and “American Idol” contestant has been sentenced to life without possibility of parole for killing his wife in their Dayton-area home earlier this year.

Caleb Flynn, 40, was found guilty of aggravated murder in the February shooting of Ashley Flynn, 37, a schoolteacher and volleyball coach. Flynn and their two daughters were home when police arrived.

Before issuing the sentence, Judge Jeannine Pratt said he would be punished because he posed a high risk of harm to the community.

“The layers of deceit, manipulation and cruelty are hard to fathom,” Pratt said Monday. “And you used your faith to manipulate the lives of others.”

Flynn maintained his innocence on Monday, crying and shaking as he read a statement to his family and Ashley’s.

“I loved her and loved her. She was my wife. She was beautiful and amazing in countless ways,” 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.”

To his two children, Flynn apologized and said they are his greatest joy in life. To his parents, he thanked them for their love and kindness and said their support throughout the trial was “supernatural.”

“I never knew that love this fierce was possible until the moment that I held you for the first time,” Flynn said to his daughters. “Please know your daddy is so proud of you and loves you beyond what words can describe.”

Flynn’s daughters were not in court, but other family members read written statements from the pre-teen girls who were ages 9 and 11 when their mother was killed.

“I love you deeply with all my heart and it’s sad that you can’t love anyone but yourself,” read the letter from his daughter Alissa.

In her letter, his daughter Ava said photos and videos of her father on trial online have been inescapable.

“My heart aches to see you hurt, but then I think it was your choice,” she wrote. “It was your choice to have that affair.”

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“We trusted you. We believed in you. We honestly would have laid down our lives for you,” Keyt said.

Prosecutors said Flynn’s wife was defenseless in bed with he shot her and then feigned a home invasion to mislead investigators.

Flynn frantically called 911 and said someone had broken in while he slept on the couch. He woke up to the sound of gunshots, he told investigators.

He said that a day before the killing, a man had come to their home and handed his wife an American flag while making a “weird sales pitch for America.”

But Flynn’s mistress Alleigha Botner testified in court that he talked about hating his wife and having thoughts of killing her. Jurors heard AI-generated love songs that prosecutors say he made for Botner and some of the more than 100,000 text messages that authorities say they exchanged.

Miami County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Watkins read a statement to the court and shook his head as prosecutors said he endangered his children’s lives when he killed his wife while they were home.

“This case is about deliberate choices, the destruction of an irreplaceable life, and the permanent devastation left behind,” he said.

“The defendant has never accepted responsibility or expressed genuine remorse for the life he ended,” Watkins added.

Alicia Victoria LozanoAlicia Victoria Lozano is a California-based reporter for NBC News focusing on climate change, wildfires and the changing politics of drug laws.