PRESCOTT, Ariz. – An Arizona stockbroker convicted of killing his ex-wife was sentenced Friday to spend the rest of his life in prison for what the presiding judge said was a brutal, gruesome crime he cannot erase from memory.

Steven DeMocker, 60, was sentenced on first-degree murder and six other convictions in Yavapai County Superior Court. Prosecutors said he bludgeoned Carol Kennedy with a golf club at the Prescott-area home the two once shared, shattering her skull and staged the home to make it look accidental.

Prosecutors landed convictions in the case by relying heavily on circumstantial evidence. No DNA, eyewitnesses, blood, a confession or other evidence tied DeMocker directly to the crime. Prosecutors told jurors that he killed Kennedy to cash in on her life insurance policy and to avoid monthly alimony payments at a time when he was deep in debt.

DeMocker steadfastly maintains that he is innocent. He stood before Judge Gary Donahoe on Friday to say he loved his former wife and was incapable of violence against her. He echoed the desires of his family who spoke before him in pleading with Donahoe to have a chance to be released after 25 years.

“I did not kill Carol,” DeMocker said. “Justice for her is not accomplished by falsely accusing and then condemning the wrong man.”

The supposed murder weapon never was found.

In a letter to Donahoe, Ruth Kennedy asked for the maximum punishment for DeMocker, calling his actions selfish and violent.

“It seems to me that anything less would not appropriately fit the consequences of his actions,” she said.

For DeMocker’s daughters, Katie and Charlotte, the more than five years it took for the case to wrap up was a prolonged nightmare, they said. They spoke of their mother’s joyful spirit and compassion, and of DeMocker as a father who took them on outdoor adventures and who was their biggest fan.

DeMocker is planning to appeal.