Nevada woman sentenced to 28 years to life for beheading ex
Edvard Pettersson
(CN) — A Nevada woman was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison on Thursday for the murder of her ex-partner, who was the father of her two young children and whose beheaded corpse was found at the Henderson home of his mother.
Eighth Judicial District Court Judge Tierra Jones gave Devyn Michaels 20 years to life for the August 2023 murder of Jonathan Willette. The judge added a consecutive sentence of 8 to 20 years for the use of a deadly weapon in the killing. As a consequence Michaels won’t be eligible for parole until she has served 28 years in prison.
A Las Vegas jury last year convicted Michaels of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon.
The case became headline news not only because of the gruesome murder of Willette — whose head was never recovered and whose body had been partially burned by chemicals — but also because Michaels, a former adult movie star, had married Willette’s adult son from a previous relationship.
Michaels had initially agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder. However, when she was about to be sentenced last July, she told the judge she wouldn’t stop fighting to prove her innocence.
As a result, she went on trial for a first-degree murder, leading to her conviction in November after the jury had deliberated for just a few hours.
Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani said at the sentencing hearing that, notwithstanding Michaels’ lack of criminal history, the extreme violence involved in Willette’s murder warranted the highest possible sentence.
“You have to put her on the far end of the spectrum of evil, judge,” Giordani said. “Is a person who’s capable of such extreme evil, is that person someone who we want to walk our streets, whether that is 20 years from now, 28 years from now, or not?”
Michaels’ attorney Robert Draskovich argued the murder of Willette had been a single impulsive act that hadn’t been planned, followed by bad decisions, that didn’t merit a sentence of more than the minimum 20 years in prison.
“This is a case where the court should look at redemption,” Draskovich said.
Michaels briefly addressed the judge, speaking partly inaudibly but concluding by saying that “no matter what I say, they’re still going to feel the same way.”
The prosecution argued at trial that Michaels killed her 46-year-old ex-partner because he was about to move back in with her and their two daughters. That presumably would have disrupted her living arrangement with Willette’s son who she had married.
According to the prosecution, Michaels admitted she hit Willette with a “club or stick” when she was giving him a massage at his mother’s home in Henderson.
After the murder, police found Willette’s phone in Michaels’ car with blood on it and his Social Security card in her purse. They found Willette’s wallet, ID and car keys in a plastic bag hidden in Michaels’ underwear drawer.
The state’s forensic experts opined that Willette was decapitated a knife and a mechanical saw after he was killed.