Lorin Womack, the exotic zoo owner whose love for another man's wife led him to hatch an ill-conceived murder-for-hire scheme, was sentenced to 26 years in prison Tuesday.

"Throughout this case, the defendant has been referred to as a self-made man," Kane County Circuit Judge Donald Hudson said in sentencing Womack. "Today, he stands before the court as a man who has self-destructed."

In October, a jury convicted Womack, 50, former owner of the shuttered Land O'Lorin Exotic Wildlife Haven in Batavia Township, of solicitation to commit murder for hire. Womack of Batavia inadvertently hired an undercover Aurora police officer to kill John Irvine of Geneva in early December 1998 because he hoped to spend the rest of his life with Irvine's estranged wife, Amy McPartland-Irvine.

Instead, Womack will be spending a lot of his life in prison. Illinois law requires an individual convicted of solicitation to commit murder to serve 85 percent of the sentence. Under that guideline, Womack, who has been in jail for 27 months, will serve at least 19 more years.

"The court handled the case well," an emotional John Irvine said as he hurried from court. He declined to comment further.

After a two-day sentencing hearing, Kane County Assistant State's Atty. Christine Hathaway had recommended a 31-year prison sentence. Defense attorneys Tony Brasel and Stuart Peterson asked the judge for the minimum, 20 years.

Womack showed no emotion when Hudson issued the sentence. Moments earlier, Womack talked through his tears for more than 20 minutes in a final plea for leniency.

"Judge, I'm sorry for wasting everybody's time doing this," Womack said. Three minutes into his speech, John Irvine left the court, returning to hear the sentencing.

Throughout his address, Womack shuffled papers and broad-brushed critical evidence in the case, including his belief that he was entrapped by a desperate Amy McPartland, a zealous detective and a paid informant.

He also drifted into details of his life, such as being raised in a "Christian home," swearing only twice in his life and sometimes plowing snow for 16 consecutive hours to earn money.

"I don't think I did anything wrong," he said at one point. "I was doing something that somebody told me to do. Not one day has gone by for 27 months where I haven't broken down and cried and asked for forgiveness."

Hathaway and Kane County Sheriff's Capt. Michael Anderson, coordinator of the Womack investigation, said the sentence was fair. Defense attorney Peterson took issue with the judge's position that the sentence should be a deterrent. Peterson said legislators considered deterrence in setting the 20-year-minimum.

Womack's sister, Carlene Modine, called the punishment "way too much." She noted that Womack, who has struggled with a learning disability that has left him virtually illiterate, had only two misdemeanor violations before the murder-for-hire allegation. "Lorin got caught up in the moment," she said, "and he doesn't remember anything about it."

But Hudson noted the "enthusiasm" in Womack's voice, secretly recorded on audio tape, when he instructed the purported hit man to execute Irvine. "The defendant's cold and callous disregard for human life is both chilling and profoundly disturbing," Hudson said.

Womack and his supporters believe Anderson pursued Womack unjustly because he considers Womack a prime suspect in the 1988 unsolved disappearance of Kenneth Dale King, a Wayne man who had begun dating a woman living with Womack. Shortly after Womack's arrest in December 1998, Anderson ordered the excavation of Womack's 10 acres to search for evidence. The dig was a failure.

Anderson said the King case remains active.

"The only thing that this affects," Anderson said of the sentence, "is that I know where he's at if I want to talk to him."