Eric Brian Golden sentenced to life. Or 14 years. Whichever comes first.

An alert reader notified me that on Tuesday, October 17, Eric Brian Golden admitted to murdering his wife, DeeDee Marie Golden late one night 11 months ago, on November 17, 2005.

If you’re new to this blog, I wrote about Brian Golden previously. He was an ordained Assemblies of God minister, serving as youth pastor at Southside A/G, in Savannah, Georgia. Here are the former posts:

According to the news reports so far (WTVM9 and SavannahNow), the Chatham County DA agreed to drop the charge for “concealment of death” in exchange for a guilty plea to a charge of felony murder by aggravated battery by Golden. I’m not sure what that got him, because he received a life sentence. W. Down Bonds, a family law attorney representing Golden, made it sound more like a gesture of contrition:

More details have surfaced about that night in November. We already knew that Golden had been arrested for pandering in June 2004 when he offered an undercover officer $20 for oral sex. What we didn’t know then was that he had been using porn in the interim — not surprising — and that DeeDee had been talking about divorce and on the night of her murder she demanded he attend counseling. But Brian Golden was concerned about his reputation and his job — worried that he might not be allowed to continue as a youth pastor if divorced. According to Brian, DeeDee had also been drinking that day, and was angry about a youth he had taken to the mall.

He snapped.

DeeDee’s autopsy revealed blunt force trauma to her neck, and signs of asphyxiation. Earlier reports said her neck had been broken. In Golden’s preliminary hearing, he said they were wrestling, “I’m not sure exactly what happened, but at some point her head twisted and it felt like her neck was broken. … I could tell she was badly injured. She didn’t move at all and she had the oddest look on her face, like it was frozen in shock. I reached for where we were on the floor and grabbed a pillow. I placed it over her face to hide that look.”

And then he hid her body.

Robert McKie, DeeDee’s father, remarked on the aftermath for family and friends of the Goldens: “When someone makes a wrong decision like this, it’s like a tidal wave washes over everyone who knew them. … We’ve all struggled.”

DeeDee’s sister was less philosophical. Taking the stand on Tuesday, she said Golden deserved death.

Eric Brian Golden will be eligible for parole in 14 years.