Lemon Grove
A Lemon Grove tool inspector was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in state prison for killing his wife during an quarrel at the kitchen table.
Robert Laverne Thatcher, 54, received the maximum term for his voluntary manslaughter conviction. His wife, Peggy Thatcher, 50, was shot in the head July 27, 1986, in their home on Massachusetts Avenue. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter after a murder charge was dismissed.
“I am so very, very sorry,” said Robert Thatcher, looking at relatives in the audience. “I wish to God I could turn back the hands of time.”
San Diego Superior Court Judge J. Richard Haden also fined Thatcher $500.
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