Man Who Shot Pregnant Wife in Head Gets Life Sentence : Punishment: The Laguna Hills tile setter must serve nearly nine years before he will be eligible for parole. The victim survived and with her family was on hand for the sentencing.

A Laguna Hills man who shot his pregnant wife in the head was sentenced to life in prison Friday for the attempted murder.

Anthony L. Totten, 33, a self-employed tile setter, remained impassive as the judge imposed the maximum sentence. He will serve nearly nine years before being eligible for parole.

The judge also ordered Totten to pay the maximum restitution of $10,000, but lowered it to $2,500 after Totten testified that he had no bank accounts or savings.

The defendant’s fiancee, Georgia Quill, looked crestfallen. As the bailiffs prepared to escort Totten from the courtroom, she hesitantly approached him to say goodby. Later, she refused to comment on the sentence.

Members of Totten’s family said they were devastated.

“I think that the victim enjoyed the publicity,” said Totten’s mother, Gana Totten, who complained bitterly that the victim was not charged for shooting back at her attacker. Police, however, have theorized that Totten shot himself.

The victim, Jane Totten, accompanied by her brothers and parents, declined to comment on the case, but nodded when asked if some normalcy was returning to her life.

She was five months pregnant when she was shot as she was leaving her gynecologist’s office in Huntington Beach last October. Married in 1985, the couple were separated at the time and fighting over visitation rights to their two children.

Totten waited outside the clinic and approached his wife under the pretext of having a birthday gift for their daughter. He carried the rifle in its original box, which he had spray-painted several times to conceal the packaging, police said.

Jane Totten was driving out of the clinic parking lot when her husband pulled out the rifle. She fled from the car and tried to get back inside the clinic but was shot on the sidewalk, police said.

The bullet entered the back of her head and shattered her jaw. The hearing in her left ear was destroyed, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Cher DeKant.

Anthony Totten suffered two bullet wounds to his right leg. Police described the injuries as minor.

“The evidence of premeditation in this case is overwhelming,” Judge Everett W. Dickey said Friday. He ordered Totten to serve an additional three-year sentence for intent to cause great bodily injury.

DeKant said she was pleased with the judge’s actions.

“I believe it’s an appropriate sentence,” she said.

Defense attorney Leonard H. McBride agreed: “I’m not happy with the whole situation, but I think it (the sentence) was appropriate.”

McBride said he plans to file an appeal Monday but did not offer the basis for an appeal.