NILES — The man who was convicted in March of murdering his girlfriend was sentenced Monday in Berrien County Trial Court.

James Parker Huffman, of Niles Township, was charged with first-degree murder. He faced a jury trial for the crime in March with the possibility of receiving the lesser conviction: second-degree murder. After multiple days of trial and listening to testimony from more than 19 witnesses, jurors ruled that Huffman was guilty of first-degree murder.

On Monday, Judge Charles LaSata ordered Huffman to serve the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Huffman fatally strangled his longtime girlfriend, Angela Cluver, with his bare hands on July 21, 2017, at their home at 996 S. 14th St. He waited three days before confessing the crime to authorities. On July 24, he brought police to her body. Cluver was in such a state of decay due to hot temperatures that her identity had to be confirmed with fingerprints.

On Monday, Huffman’s defense attorney Scott Sanford continued to allege that the crime had been committed as part of a suicide pact that the couple agreed to. Huffman told this story to police when he confessed the crime. During videotaped testimony of Huffman’s confession, which was shown during his trial, Huffman said he had tried to take his own life after strangling Cluver in their bedroom, but could not go through with it.

Sanford said his client had passed polygraph test regarding the facts of this allegation.

“He wants the people to know that he is not a cold-blooded killer and danger to the community,” Huffman said. “This was something that the parties talk about.”

Huffman chose not to testify during trial, so the court never heard him speak. But when given the opportunity Monday, Huffman took the chance to speak up. 

“I want to apologize to my family and friends,” Huffman said. “I regret mostly that I was not able to live up to our pact. We [him and Angela] loved each other and consider ourselves partners for life.”

LaSata was quick to retort that Huffman’s egregious crime was not an act of love or even a “so called suicide pact.”

“I don’t believe that,” Huffman said. “I believe the jury got it exactly right. I think you are a cold, calculating killer. You killed the victim in this instance and you did it before you had the opportunity to think through your next move to cover the crime.”

He also cited Huffman’s callous and lack of remorse for Angela’s death as “incredible.” LaSata recalled the crime scene, where Huffman had left Cluver’s body to decompose for three days in their laundry room.

“You threw a blanket over her because you didn’t want to look at her while you were doing your laundry around her,” LaSata said. “While you manufacturing this crazy plan … in your mind is really disturbing and disgusting.”

LaSata said it did not matter if the couple had agreed to a suicide pact. He said consent was never a defense to murder, a fact that he said was emphasized in People v. Kevorkian, a case that raised this question about assisted suicide.

Huffman has a right to appeal the charge.