Waller sentenced to 35 years for federal crime related to wife's murder

Jackson murderer James Clay Waller II was sentenced to 35 years in prison Tuesday for a felony count of interstate domestic violence relating to the strangling and beating death of his estranged wife, Jacque Waller.

Clay Waller, 47, will be required to serve 85 percent of the sentence, which will run concurrently with his previous sentence for second-degree murder.

“Well, of course we wanted life, but since that wasn’t available, we’ll be happy with this,” Jacque’s sister, Cheryl Brenneke, said by phone after the sentencing. “He would be around 73, and the kids would be about 38 when he gets out, and at that point, they’ll be old enough to handle him and his manipulations, and my mom and dad won’t be around, so they were good with that.”

Brenneke said she and her parents were surprised when Waller told them he was sorry and he wanted closure, but “in the next breath, he blamed her, so we took it for what it was worth.”

She said Waller claimed if Jacque Waller had acted differently, he wouldn’t have killed her.

“It’s just, you know, he’s not accepting responsibility,” Brenneke said.

Though she said she would not be surprised if the sentence was appealed, Tuesday’s court hearing was the last time Brenneke and Jacque’s parents, Stan and Ruby Rawson, will enter a courtroom dealing with the murder case.

Brenneke said Ruby Rawson told the court and Waller in an impact statement how much Waller hurt the family, and she “just could not believe after all the years and the birthdays and holidays and vacations that we did together that he was capable of doing that. So she got some things off her chest.”

Brenneke said Waller’s triplets, who she is raising, had talked about whether to attend the sentencing and give impact statements, but they ultimately decided their father would see it as a gift to be able to see them, so they decided not to attend.

“They’re fine,” Brenneke said. “They’re fabulous kids, involved in everything under the sun and doing very well. If somebody doesn’t tell you they’d been through this, you wouldn’t never know it.”

On the day before he and Jacque Waller were to meet with a divorce attorney, Clay Waller dug a grave on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River near Devil’s Island. According to a news release issued by the United States Attorney’s Office, Waller spent the night in Illinois with his girlfriend and crossed into Missouri with the intent of killing his wife. After the meeting at the divorce attorney’s office, Waller lured Jacque Waller to his home before killing her.

The crime of interstate domestic violence, according to the release, was enacted by Congress as part of the Crimes Against Women Act of 1994. The offense is committed when a person travels in interstate commerce with the intent to kill, injure, harass or intimidate a spouse or domestic partner and, as a result of such travel, carries out those intentions, the release stated.

Waller was convicted of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2013. He originally was charged with first-degree murder, but Waller struck a deal to lower the charges in exchange for a confession and taking authorities to the location of her body.

At the time of the sentencing, assistant prosecuting attorney Angel Woodruff said, “I cannot bind the state of Illinois, and I cannot bind the federal government.”

While in prison, federal authorities recovered a manuscript of a book written by Waller titled, “‘If You Take My Kids, I’ll Kill You!’: The Public Confession of Missouri’s Most Notorious Wife Killers.” As part of the plea agreement, Waller agreed to forfeit any proceeds from the manuscript.

In the news release, Assistant United States Attorney Larry H. Ferrell, commended the work of the Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the FBI, the Cape Girardeau County Major Case Squad, the Jackson City Police Department, the Cape Girardeau Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Department in the case.

In a phone interview after the case, Ferrell said the charges would have been filed even if the manuscript had not been found. He said it corroborated existing evidence, including Waller’s original confession.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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