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A Manhattan Beach man was sentenced Friday to 50 years to life in state prison for gunning down his wife in their home more than a dozen years ago after she complained that he was playing music too loud.
Bill Lawrence Gallup, now 68, was convicted April 6 of first-degree murder for the July 5, 2003, killing of his wife, Oliva, 50.
She was shot once in the chest after she had fallen to her knees after being struck by debris from the first gunshot, then shot at close range in the eye. Gallup then shot himself twice in the head.
Gallup was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in 2006, with court proceedings resuming last year after he was determined to be competent.
His wife had asked him to turn music down before the shooting, and the two got into an argument, according to testimony presented at the trial.
Police responding to a 911 call found Gallup’s wife dead and Gallup on a bed with two gunshot wounds to the head, with the gun used in the killing found nearby.
Gallup — who testified in his own defense — told jurors that he did not shoot his wife and didn’t remember anything about what had happened that day, the Daily Breeze reported.
–City News Service
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