WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI (WSAU) — The man found guilty of killing Eleanore Roberts has been sentenced to life in prison but will be eligible to apply for parole within the next 20 years.
John Sarver received the sentence on Friday after he was found guilty at trial in November. According to investigators Roberts, who was 71 at the time of her death, was stabbed multiple times with a pair of scissors and beaten.
Sarver’s defense team had argued that if the evidence against him were concrete a trial would have happened years ago. However, that didn’t sway the jury.
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Because the case had to be tried under rules that were in place at the time of the crime, Judge Nicholas Brazeau Jr was unable to have a say in whether Sarver would be eligible for parole. Meaning, with credit for time already served, the 59-year-old will be eligible to apply for parole sometime before 2040.
