US: Florida 'Facebook killer' jailed for life after murdering his wife and posting picture online

A man who killed his wife and then posted a picture of her dead body on Facebook has been sentenced to life in prison for her murder. Derek Medina, received the maximum sentence for the killing of his 27-year-old wife Jennifer Alfonso.

The 33-year-old was convicted in November 2015 of the second-degree murder of Alfonso, who was shot eight times in the couple's kitchen. Medina had claimed that his wife worshipped Satan and attacked him during an argument in which she threatened him with a knife.

The court heard Medina admit taking a photo of her corpse with a mobile phone before he uploaded it to Facebook, where it remained for five hours before the social media company removed the post.

The former amateur boxer wrote in a post: "I'm going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife love you guys miss you guys take care Facebook people you will see me in the news". He then uploaded a macabre photo of his dead wife in a black leotard slumped on the floor and wrote "Rip Jennifer Alfonso".

Medina argued that his wife had abused drugs during their tumultuous relationship and that she had beat him and worshipped the devil. Prosecutors said that she had threatened to leave him.

Medina was also convicted of child neglect for leaving his wife's 10-year-old daughter in their home after he murdered her. According to the Miami Herald, before he was sentenced, Medina refused to apologise or even look at the relatives of his former wife. But he did ask US President Barack Obama to "focus on corruption" adding that he wanted to "sue the world". "Basically, I didn't get a fair trial," he said. "Only God knows the truth."

"No family should ever have to see their daughter killed and then exhibited worldwide on the Internet like some macabre trophy to a husband's anger as was Jennifer Alfonso," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle after he was found guilty in November. "Far, far too often this kind of domestic violence leads to injury and death. The jury carefully viewed all the evidence and came to the correct conclusion that Derek Medina coldly murdered his wife to heal his own injured ego."