A former "American Idol" contestant who executed his wife as she slept was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday — a rare case where the justice system actually held a member of the entertainment class fully accountable for a brutal killing.

Caleb Flynn, 40, a church music pastor from Tipp City, Ohio, shot his wife Ashley Flynn twice in the back of the head while their two young daughters slept nearby, then staged the scene to look like a home invasion. A jury needed just two and a half hours to convict him. Judge Jeannine N. Pratt gave him the maximum: life without the possibility of parole.

The evidence was overwhelming. Flynn was having an affair with Alleigha Botner, a 20-year-old intern at his church when they met in 2022. He texted her the night before the murder: "I choose you. I'm free. Actions will come tomorrow," according to WDIV. In another message, he wrote: "If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat." Prosecutors say he even made AI-generated love songs for his mistress.

Flynn's cover story collapsed fast. He claimed an intruder killed Ashley, a 37-year-old schoolteacher and volleyball coach. But investigators found no third-party DNA at the scene. Damage to the garage door appeared staged with multiple tools. His own devices showed him moving around the house during the hours he claimed to be asleep. The 9-millimeter murder weapon was never found, but Flynn kept a 9mm handgun in his truck console — which was found open and empty when police arrived. He tried to coach his daughters about what to say.

At sentencing, Flynn sobbed, quoted scripture, and maintained his innocence. "As I stand here before God, my ultimate judge, I am not lying when I say I did not kill my wife," he claimed. The New York Post noted he "blubbered and trembled" through self-serving statements about his wedding vows and his love for Ashley — the same wife he told his mistress he hated and wanted dead.

Judge Pratt wasn't buying it. "Your actions, Mr. Flynn, were abhorrent. The layers of deceit, manipulation, and cruelty that you have shown are quite honestly impossible to fathom," she said. "You used your faith to manipulate the lives of others, and the court finds that deeply disturbing."

The hardest words came from his own daughters. One wrote: "I love you deeply with all my heart, and it's sad you can't love anyone but yourself." The other wrote: "Mommy was the perfect person. What did she ever do to make you hate her so much? She was my best friend, and then you chose to kill the only mother I ever had." One daughter told the court she does not plan to visit him in prison.

Ashley's sister Kayla Keyt described one of the girls sobbing, asking, "Why should I even believe in Jesus if he allowed this to happen to us?" Ashley's father Todd Smith said he forgave Flynn but asked for the harshest sentence available.

Flynn's attorney says he plans to appeal. The irony: when Flynn appeared on "American Idol" in 2013, he told viewers his wife had encouraged him to chase his dreams. He didn't advance past the early rounds. Hollywood never gave him a star's privilege. The courts didn't either.