Ben Sebena Sentenced to Life with Chance of Parole in 35 Years

Former Marine Benjamin Sebena was sentenced Friday to life in prison, with the possibility of parole in 35 years, for the Christmas Eve killing of his wife, Wauwatosa police officer Jennifer Sebena.

The life sentence was a given, mandatory under state sentencing laws for first-degree intentional homicide. Judge David Borowski had latitude, though, to give Sebena the chance to go before a parole board after no less than 20 years.

"You brought an act of war to Wauwatosa," Borowski said. "This is one of the worst cases I've ever seen ... one of the worst in Milwaukee County over a number years."

Prosecutor Mark Williams had agreed in exchange for a guilty plea to recommend the chance of parole after 50 to 60 years. The defense asked for 20 to 25 years. Under Borowski's ruling, Sebena, 30, would be eligible to apply at age 65.

Dozens of Wauwatosa police officers in uniform attended the hearing Friday afternoon, and Chief Barry Weber testified for the state.

"In more than 40 years in this business, this is the worst thing I've seen," Weber said. "No one in the Wauwatosa Police Department will ever forget what happened on Dec. 24, 2012. Christmas will never be the same for any of us."

For the first time, Jennifer Sebena's mother, Violet Gerhat, spoke publicly, telling Borowski how she and her family had been betrayed by Benjamin.

She read a statement in which she told how she had been told by a funeral home she should not view her daughter because "she has no face."

Linda Sebena, Ben's mother, also spoke, saying that the horrors of combat had warped his mind.

"The son we sent to war is not the son who came home," she said. "Your honor, I ask for mercy for our son."

Benjamin Sebena himself made a brief statement, apologizing in a breaking voice to Jen's family for taking her away from them.

Sebena had pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect because of a severe head wound suffered in Iraq and post-traumatic stress disorder developed during his military deployments there and in Afghanistan.

He dropped that defense and pleaded guilty to murdering his wife after two psychiatrists, one of them hired by his defense, found that his condition did not support an insanity plea.

Sebena’s attorney, Michael Steinle, argued Friday that even though Sebena did not meet the standards of an insanity defense, his brain injury and PTSD were real and offered some mitigation of his act.

Dr. Kenneth Robbins said that Sebena's PTSD was "as bad as I've seen ... on a scale of 10, I would say he is a 10."

Sebena told investigators that he had been considering suicide, according to a pre-sentencing report from the defense, and that when Jennifer Sebena told him she would also commit suicide if he did, he decided to kill her so that she could enter heaven.

But prosecuting attorney Williams found that unbelievable and "an absurd statement, an absurd reason."

Ben Sebena stalked Jennifer on her third-shift patrol in Wauwatosa, waiting for her at Fire Station No. 1, where he knew she would stop in for a break. As she stepped out the door at about 3:30 a.m. Dec. 24, he shot her twice in the head from behind with a pistol he owned, and then three more times in the face with her police service pistol.

Williams presented two photographs of her wounds to Judge Borowski, saying they showed Ben Sebena's intent not only to kill Jennifer but also to disfigure her.

Borowski repeatedly called the photos "gruesome."

Williams argued that Ben was driven by an unfounded but deep jealousy, thinking that Jennifer was drawing the attention of other men in "the male-dominated environment" of a police department. 

Borowski didn't exactly buy that argument, but he didn't believe Ben Sebena either.