Linklater sentenced in wife's killing

Kim Hoyum, Journal Staff Writer
MARQUETTE — An Ontario man was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison today for killing his newlywed wife last summer in Hannahville.

U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney made an upward departure from sentencing guidelines, sending Derek Joseph Linklater, 26, of North Spirit Lake, Ontario, to federal prison for 27 years and three months. He then will have five years of supervised release. The court also ordered substance abuse, mental health, educational and vocational counseling for Linklater.

Maloney said his departure from the original guidelines, which would have called for Linklater to serve between 14 and 17 1/2 years, was due to Linklater’s criminal history and extreme conduct in the commission of the crime.

Linklater pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in January, in the death of Loretta Lea Wandahsega, 34, a member of the Potawatomi Indian Tribe at Hannahville.

About 20 of Wandahsega’s family and friends attended the sentencing, and some spoke to the judge, asking for the maximum sentence possible.

In his plea agreement, Linklater admitted he caused Wandahsega’s death in the early morning hours of July 12, by repeatedly striking her in the face and head. The two had been married the previous day at Wandahsega’s home.

Wandahsega’s death was determined in an autopsy to have been caused by blunt force trauma to the head, resulting in a brain hemorrhage.

Linklater was arrested July 12 on a Delta County charge of aggravated assault in connection with his wife’s death, and later indicted by a federal grand jury in Marquette on the second-degree murder charge.

He had originally pleaded not guilty and would have faced trial in February.