PROVO -- A judge has ordered convicted wife-killer Dr. Martin MacNeill to face sentencing.
At a brief hearing on Tuesday, Judge Derek Pullan set sentencing on the murder and obstruction of justice charges for Sept. 19. Utah County prosecutors requested a two-hour hearing.
"We don't need a big production," MacNeill's defense attorney, Randy Spencer, told the judge.
MacNeill will not speak at sentencing, nor would be cooperate with Adult Probation & Parole agents who will prepare a pre-sentence report, Spencer said.
Prosecutors said Michele MacNeill's daughters, Alexis Somers and Rachel MacNeill, as well as her sister, Linda Cluff, plan to speak at sentencing.
"The victims have a right to be heard," deputy Utah County Attorney Chad Grunander said outside of court.
Last week, a judge rejected the defense's push for a new trial in the murder case. A jury convicted MacNeill last year of murder and obstruction of justice in the 2007 death of his wife, Michele. Prosecutors contend he drugged and drowned her so he could carry on an affair with another woman.
MacNeill faces 15 years-to-life in prison when he is sentenced. The issue will be if Judge Pullan will run his obstruction of justice sentence with the murder charge, or after that sentence is served.
Any appeals to the Utah Court of Appeals or Utah Supreme Court would likely be filed after sentencing.
