Darren Wold looks at family members of Kimberly Smith who were seated in the front row as he is led from the courtroom after Judge James Kieffer sentenced him Tuesday to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for his role in the 2009 murder of Smith, the mother of his son. Credit: Rick Wood

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Waukesha - To the haunting strains of Cyndi Lauper's "I Want a Mom That Will Last Forever," photos of Kimberly Smith and her son, Jackson, faded on and off a giant screen in a Waukesha County courtroom Tuesday.

Many in the packed gallery fought back tears, but the boy's father, Darren Wold, never even glanced at the display. Wold, 43, was awaiting his sentence of life in prison for plotting Smith's 2009 murder at the hand of a hired killer.

A few minutes later, though, Wold's attorney noted that his client had taken most of the pictures in the slide show, one of many apparent attempts to illustrate Wold's claimed love for his son, efforts that mostly drew groans from Smith's family.

"Fortunately, Jackson doesn't remember you," Smith's sister Laurie Zanotti had told Wold minutes earlier. She and her husband are raising the boy, who is now 9. Someday, she said, they'll tell him "just how evil you are."

She said that it was clear through the trial that Wold's family and friends were complicit in his decision to run away when he moved to Texas in the midst of his Wisconsin custody battle with Smith, 39.

"Did anyone ever tell you to man up? Shame on all of them. Shame."

Wold's attorney, Anthony Rosario, told Circuit Judge James Kieffer that Wold served in the U.S. Navy, had a solid work history and no criminal record. Rosario also repeated Wold's theory that co-defendant Jack Johnson, 67, took it upon himself to arrange Smith's murder, thinking he was helping Wold.

Kieffer reminded Rosario that Johnson, too, has never admitted any responsibility for the crime.

When it was his turn to speak, Wold proclaimed his innocence, called the investigation and trial a witch hunt, complained of his treatment in the Waukesha County Jail and said he loves his son.

Judge rebukes Wold

Kieffer defended the fairness of the trial and told Wold that it was he who chose to ignore the truth.

"You're a coldblooded killer," Kieffer said. "You lost it all, Mr. Wold, because of your anger, hatred and defiance."

The judge noted that if Wold had stayed and let the family court system work, he probably would have won shared custody of his son.

Kieffer imposed the life sentence without any chance of extended supervision, the punishment handed down to Johnson, who a jury concluded last month acted as the middleman between Wold and Justin Welch.

Welch, 28, of California pleaded guilty and testified that he came to Wisconsin and fatally stabbed Smith in her Oconomowoc home Oct. 1, 2009, on the promise of a $7,000 payout. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole until he is 70. Welch had met Johnson in Mexico, where Johnson was living. Wold moved to Texas in about 2007.

A trail of evidence

A detailed trail of phone calls, money transfers, airline tickets and computer searches for air, train and bus fares and hotels in the Oconomowoc area links the three men to the killing, according to testimony. Among the keys was a money transfer of $200 from Wold to Johnson on Sept. 29, 2009, according to testimony. Johnson then wired $200 to a bank branch in the Milwaukee area, where Welch, who was posing as his half brother Ricky Freeman, picked up the money.

Shortly after a jury convicted Wold and Johnson Nov. 2, Wold went on a hunger strike, prompting jail officials to obtain a judge's order that Wold be evaluated, fed and treated against his will. Wold said in a jailhouse interview last week that he had resumed eating.

District Attorney Brad Schimel said that he expected Wold to be transported to a state prison Tuesday.