A judge sentenced a remorseless Long Island man to 25 years to life in prison yesterday for shooting his wife in the back of the head and then brazenly claiming it was a suicide.
Eric Rose, 46, continued to insist he didn’t commit the murder at his sentencing in Suffolk County Supreme Court, saying he still misses his dead wife, Wendy Rose.
But Wendy’s two children from a previous relationship – whom Rose later adopted – begged the judge to show no mercy to the man who took away their mother, and even lamented that the death penalty was no longer a possibility.
“This is a man who walked into my mother’s bedroom in the middle of the night and shot her multiple times while she slept,” son James Rose told the judge. “If that fact alone doesn’t clearly state what a spineless despicable person Eric Rose is, then nothing will.”
Rose, a financial planner, shot his British-born wife to death on Oct. 2, 2002, then dialed 911.
When police arrived at the couple’s Hauppauge home, they found Wendy, 53, his wife of 22 years, in the bedroom suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. A second bullet grazed her head and a third was found in her back.
Two more bullet casings were recovered from the bedroom walls.
Rose died two days later. She never regained consciousness.
At trial, experts dispelled Rose’s claim that his wife’s wounds were self-inflicted.
It took a Suffolk jury just five hours to find him guilty last May. Prosecutors said Rose was facing financial ruin and killed his wife to collect on a half-million dollar life-insurance policy.
“As wonderful as she was as a mother, she was also my best friend,” daughter Tracy Rose told the court, her voice breaking. “I thought of her as a soulmate.”
After listening to the children’s pleas, the judge handed down the maximum sentence, citing “the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that proved that Wendy Rose could not have committed suicide.”
Outside court, James Rose said, “The only comforting thing with my mother’s death is the fact that she’ll never have to spend another miserable minute with this man.”