SPARTA, Wis.—A judge sentenced a Wisconsin man to life plus 120 years in prison on Wednesday for killing his step-grandfather with an ax and injuring two other people during an altercation at the step-grandfather’s home.
Monroe County Circuit Judge Todd Ziegler called 38-year-old Thomas Wayne Aspseter a selfish, remorseless human being with almost no redeeming qualities before he sentenced him, the La Crosse Tribune reported.
“There is a struggle to find positive aspects of Mr. Aspseter’s character,” the judge said.
According to prosecutors, Aspseter had been staying with his 87-year-old step-grandfather, Bernard Waite, but Waite wanted him to leave the home in Sparta, a community of about 10,000 people roughly midway between Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Aspseter apparently returned to the home in June 2021 while Waite was at a family gathering in Waukesha and used a crowbar to get inside….