Durben was found with a shotgun wound to her head in the couple’s bedroom at the farmhouse where they lived, about four miles south of Shenandoah on U.S. Highway 59. Prosecutors have said Durben’s death was a homicide staged to look like a suicide. Davis’ attorneys maintained that Durben killed herself.

Davis was transported to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Oakdale, where he will begin his sentence immediately. Davis has the right to appeal the sentence within 30 days of his sentencing Thursday. Before the sentencing in the Fremont County Courthouse defense attorneys Eric Nelson, Joseph Reedy and Michael Hooper filed a motion for a new trial, which Judge O’Grady denied.