Richie Edwin Wilder Jr., 31, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Thursday for the brutal murder of his ex-wife.

Angila Wilder was stabbed or cut 44 times in the face, neck and upper chest during the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2015 in the bedroom of her home at 519 16th Street NW. Some of the wounds were three or four inches deep.

“This was a cold, calculated, cowardly act that resulted in the death of a sleeping victim who was murdered in her own bed,” said Judge Gary Lee before he pronounced the sentence.

A jury found Richie Wilder Jr. guilty last December of Class AA felony murder.

Richie Wilder Jr. had a tumultuous relationship with his ex-wife and had previously been convicted of choking her and threatening her when they were living at Minot Air Force Base in December 2011. Richie and Angila Wilder had continued to argue over custody and visitation with their two children.

Lee said Wednesday that Wilder watched and planned the murder for a time when Angila Wilder would be alone and asleep in her home and few if any witnesses would see him approaching the house.

The only other person present in the home that night was Angila Wilder’s 2-year-old son with her live-in boyfriend, Chris Jackson. Angila Wilder’s two older children, a daughter who is now 12 and a son who is now 6, were staying with Richie Wilder Jr., his second wife and their toddler daughter at their residence on the night of the murder.

Richie Wilder Jr. had adopted Angila Wilder’s daughter from a previous relationship when the two were still married and had shared custody of the girl and his son with Angila Wilder.

Lee also ordered that Richie Wilder Jr. have no contact ever again with his 12-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son. The murder of their mother caused enormous harm to the children, said Lee, and their father’s actions has also removed him permanently from their lives.

Family members of Angila Wilder, including Jackson, her mother and her stepmother, all had written letters to the court asking Lee to impose the maximum sentence of life without parole.

At the sentencing hearing, the defense argued for a lighter sentence of 50 years in prison, with a requirement that Richie Wilder Jr. serve 30 years.

“I offer no excuses, but I’m sure whatever you do impose, I’ll take that time to better myself so someday I can be reintegrated back into society as a better person,” Richie Wilder Jr. told the judge.

His defense attorney, Kerry Rosenquist, said Richie Wilder Jr. has been taking medication for mental health issues and seems more in touch with reality now. Rosenquist said an evaluator judged that Richie Wilder Jr. has only a 15 percent chance of committing the same type of crime again.

But Ward County Deputy State’s Attorney Kelly Dillon presented evidence of Wilder’s previous misdeeds, including a domestic violence incident in Georgia in 2007 against Angila Wilder that ended in a deferred prosecution. In December 2011, Richie Wilder Jr. assaulted Angila Wilder on two separate occasions while they were living at Minot Air Force Base. In one of the incidents, he choked her unconscious and made threats against her. Richie Wilder Jr. was convicted by a military court of both assaults. He later divorced Angila Wilder and left the Air Force, but the conflict between the two former spouses remained high.

Lee judged that Wilder’s past history of violence against women did not weigh in his favor.

During the trial, there was testimony that Richie Wilder Jr. attempted to frame Angila Wilder’s current boyfriend, Chris Jackson, for the murder. Chris Jackson was at work at Walmart at the time of the crime. Richie Wilder Jr. later fabricated stories in an attempt to come up with an alternative suspect for the murder.

At the sentencing hearing, Minot police investigator Krista Mattice testified that Richie Wilder Jr. tried to take a hit out on a witness who testified at his trial. He was also charged with trying to escape from the Ward County Jail on Aug. 25, 2016, while he was incarcerated and waiting trial for the murder.