Man Who Propped Up Dead Wife's Body To Open Presents Gets 15 Years

California man who killed his wife then propped her lifeless body up on Christmas day to open presents with their kids gets 15 years to life in prison.

Source: Mark Boster / Getty

In 2011, one of the most disturbing murders was reported out of Orange County. A local dockworker named William Wallace was arrested for the murder of his wife, Za’Zell Preston. Preston was the mother of three children and after her death, Wallace propped her up on the sofa on Christmas day to open presents with the kids–even leading the kids to believe she was drunk and that’s why she was unresponsive.

Now, the New York Post reports Wallace has finally been sentenced and may never see the light of day again.

A California man who killed his wife and then propped up her body on a sofa as her children opened Christmas presents has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

He put sunglasses on her and told the children to open their presents, his trial heard, telling them, “Mommy ruined Christmas, she got drunk and ruined Christmas.”

Wallace — who had previously served jail time for beating his wife — was sentenced Friday after being convicted earlier this year of second-degree murder.

To make matters worse, his attorney tried to claim her injuries came from her being drunk, tripping, and falling into a glass table, shattering it. It is just despicable to victim blame a woman who is no longer with us, especially when the actions after her murderer are disturbing no matter what happened previously.

Preston was murdered weeks before she was due to graduate college and luckily, her mother now has custody of the children. Praying for the peace and healing of those babies as this isn’t going to be easy to live with and heal from.