SPARTA, Wis. — A judge sentenced a Wisconsin man to life in prison plus 120 years in prison Wednesday for killing his adoptive grandfather with an ax and injuring two other people during an altercation at the adoptive grandfather’s home.
Monroe County Circuit Judge Todd Ziegler called 38-year-old Thomas Wayne Aspseter a selfish and unapologetic human being with almost no redeeming qualities before sentencing him. reported the La Crosse Tribune.
“There is a struggle to find positive aspects of Mr. Aspseter’s character,” the judge said.
According to prosecutors, Aspseter had been staying with her 87-year-old adoptive grandfather, Bernard Waite, but he wanted her to leave the home in Sparta, a community of about 10,000 people between Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Aspseter apparently returned to the home in June 2021 while Waite was at a family reunion in Waukesha and used a crowbar to get inside.
Waite and his brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Margaret Waite, returned home to find Aspseter on the property. Bernard Waite told him to go away. An enraged Aspseter then struck Bernard and Michael Waite with the axe, hitting them both on the head, and struck Margaret Waite in the arm.
Aspseter then shot himself in the throat with a rifle, called 911 and confessed to killing Bernard Waite, according to the complaint.
He was convicted last year for the fatal attack.