A Noatak man has been sentenced to 80 years in prison for beating his wife to death.
On Friday Superior Court Judge Paul Roetman handed down the prison term for 45-year-old Jim Adams, who was convicted by a Kotzebue jury of second-degree murder in September.
According to a press release from the state Department of Law, Adams woke up on the morning of June 27, 2020 and found his wife, 31-year-old Rhoda Adams, missing from their house. Adams eventually found her at his cousin’s house.
Armed with a crowbar, Adams kicked in the door of the house and proceeded to beat both victims, breaking his cousin’s arm and knocking him out.
Prosecutors said Adams then struck his wife more than 100 times, removing her clothes at some point in the beating.
Adams claimed that he killed Rhoda in a crime of passion. But prosecutors said troopers found Rhoda’s blood-soaked clothes at Adams’ residence.
At his sentencing, Roetman said Adams could not be rehabilitated and needed to be separated from his community.
