Man Who Killed Wife With Mallet Before Heading to Casino Sentenced to Life

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Associated Press) – A South Florida man has been sentenced to life in prison for beating his wife to death with a mallet.

A Broward County judge sentenced 68-year-old Robert Oulton on Thursday. He was convicted last month of second-degree murder.

Authorities say Oulton fatally beat his wife, Yvonne, at their Pompano Beach home on Easter Sunday 2010 and then went to Isle Casino & Racing in Coconut Creek to gamble in a poker tournament.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports that Oulton later called his son, claiming to be concerned because he didn’t know where he wife was. The two searched for several hours before finding her dead in a minivan that Oulton had abandoned hours earlier.

Oulton later admitted to the killing, though his defense attorney had argued for a manslaughter conviction.