Man who killed wife, microwaved dog, sentenced to 16 years

PASADENA — A 47-year-old Glendale man was sentenced Tuesday to serve 16 years to life in prison for killing his wife and microwaving his Pomeranian to death.

Jurors found John Levin guilty of second-degree murder in June for killing his 35-year-old wife, Michelle Levin, after he pleaded guilty to felony animal cruelty for microwaving his dog.

“I am told that it is a sin to not forgive and to harbor vengeance in your heart,” Michelle Levin’s father, Frank Raymie, told Levin in a Pasadena courtroom. “If that be true, then I will die a sinful man. I want you to spend a long time in jail.”

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Janice Croft also sentenced Levin to eight months in prison for the animal cruelty charge, and ordered Levin to be placed on parole for life after serving his prison sentence.

Levin was arrested attempting to cross the Canadian border days after the body of his wife and the dog’s remains were discovered Sept. 11, 2009, in their North Glendale condominium in the 200 block of West Fairview Avenue.

Authorities said she was stabbed to death three days prior, her body discovered in a locked second-floor bedroom.

During a preliminary hearing, officers testified that they found the home littered with dog excrement, rotting food and pills scattered on a table.

“You are evil,” Michelle’s friend, Tracey Naranjo, told Levin in court.

Levin’s attorney, deputy public defender Katherine Nicole Bonaguidi, told Croft that he was addicted to Soma and was under the influence during the incident.

She added that Levin had no criminal history prior to his drug addiction and that he worked for eight years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Montrose Search and Rescue Team.

But Croft dismissed claims that Levin may have been under the influence of the muscle relaxant when he killed his wife and dog.

“He wanted to move on with his life,” she said of him leaving his dying wife. “He knew exactly what he was doing.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Debra Archuleta

also requested $5,136 in restitution for the state’s victim compensation program, and the funeral costs for Michelle Levin, whose father told the court Tuesday that John Levin had destroyed the family.

“I want you to have a long sentence,” her father said. “You sentenced my daughter to death.”