'Shield' actor Michael Jace sentenced to 40 years for killing his wife

Actor Michael Jace, who portrayed a police officer in “The Shield,” was sentenced June 10 to 40 years to life in state prison for fatally shooting his wife in front of their children, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. 

Jace, 53, was found guilty last month of second-degree murder for killing April Denise Jace, although he insisted he didn’t mean to kill his wife. 

"There is absolutely no justification for my actions on that night," Jace told his wife's relatives in court. "I am profoundly sorry for the pain that I've caused everyone."

April Jace's mother, Kay Henry, angrily shook her head and walked out of the courtroom in the middle of his comments.

Henry addressed the court before Jace did, weeping as she talked about her daughter, saying the night she was killed, "we both died."

"My first thought on my mind most mornings is, 'Your daughter has been murdered.' Then I wonder about how I'll do today without her," Henry said. "I think about how my grandsons will navigate their teen years. ... Will they remember their mother and how much she loved them?"

On May 19, 2014, Jace waited for his wife in their Hyde Park home, Deputy Dist. Atty. Tannaz Mokayef said. About 8 p.m., when she arrived with their sons after the boys' baseball practice, Michael Jace shot her once in the back, a detective told The Times at the time of the killing. 

Michael Jace then taunted his wife and shot her two more times in the legs in front of their sons, who were 8 and 5 at the time, the prosecutor said.

"Who is going to argue that this was not an intent to kill?" Mokayef said. 

Mokayef told jurors that the actor was upset that his wife wanted a divorce and believed she was having an affair, although no evidence was presented during the trial that she was cheating.

"And he's right," she added. "There is no justification for what he did."

Times staff writer Jerome Campbell contributed to this report. Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.