Convicted killer calls judge a liar, gets life sentence

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. - A western Michigan man was sentenced Monday to life in prison for killing his sister and her husband in 1987 at their Holland-area home - but before he was sentenced, he called the judge a liar in a terse exchange, reports the Detroit Free Press.

Ryan Wyngarden, 51, convicted in March of two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Rick and Gail Brink, was sentenced by Ottawa County Circuit Judge Jon Hulsing. Wyngarden maintained his innocence and criticized investigators during a statement that took more than an hour, but Hulsing rejected his arguments.

"This was a brutal homicide," Hulsing said. "You are a brutal, cold-blooded murderer."

During his statement, Wyngarden called Hulsing "unjust" and a liar, reports the paper.

"You're lying now, you are flat out lying," Wyngarden said to the judge.

Hulsing threatened to duct tape Wyngarden's mouth shut if he didn't keep quiet, reports the Free Press.

"There's a good chance if they'd caught the person I might have, I'm not going to say it, I would have killed the person that killed my sister," Wyngarden said, reports the paper.

Rick Brink, 28, and Gail Brink, 22, were killed at their Park Township home. Police have said Wyngarden was jealous of the newlyweds' success and wanted to keep secret the sexual encounters he and his sister had as teenagers.

Wyngarden's wife, Pam Wyngarden, was the prosecution's key witness during the trial. They were dating in 1987; she filed for divorce this month.

Wyngarden accused investigators of coercing his wife into testifying against him, reports the paper.

"They mentally raped my wife into this," Wyngarden reportedly told the court.

Outside the courtroom, Ryan Wyngarden's mother, Dorothea Wyngarden, said investigators were wrong, the Grand Rapids Press reported. But Bud Brink, victim Rick Brink's brother, told the judge that Wyngarden "executed my brother and sister-in-law" out of jealousy and anger.