Michigan ? A man who killed and dismembered his wife was sentenced Thursday to serve at least 50 years behind bars by a judge who called his actions “demonic.”

Stephen Grant choked his wife, Tara, to death, then cut up her corpse in a machine shop. After the killing, he tearfully told reporters he wasn’t involved in her disappearance.

“Stephen Grant is evil personified,” prosecutor Eric Smith said.

A jury found him guilty in December of second-degree murder. Prosecutors had sought a first-degree murder conviction, but the jury could not unanimously agree that Grant’s actions were premeditated.

Macomb County Circuit Judge Diane Druzinski agreed with the prosecution recommendation of a sentence of 50 to 80 years for the killing.

Grant, 38, also received six to 10 years for mutilating the body, to run concurrently with the longer sentence.