Ronald Hamilton will spend the rest of his life in prison after being formally sentenced on Thursday over the 2016 killings of his wife Crystal Hamilton, 29, and 28-year-old officer Ashley Guindon

An Army staff sergeant convicted of fatally shooting his wife and a rookie Virginia police officer has been sentenced to seven consecutive life terms after he was spared the death penalty by a hung jury.

Ronald Hamilton will spend the rest of his life in prison after being formally sentenced on Thursday over the 2016 killings of his wife Crystal Hamilton, 29, and 28-year-old officer Ashley Guindon.

A jury spared Hamilton's life in October last year when it deadlocked on whether he should get the death penalty.

He was instead sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences after the court heard emotional impact statements from the mothers of his two victims.

Guindon's mother called Hamilton a 'vicious, cold-blooded, heartless killer', while his former mother-in-law almost collapsed in the witness box.

'My heart is bleeding. He took everything. He's a coward ... He shot my daughter in the back,' Crystal's mother told the court.

Hamilton wiped tears from his face during the hearing.

Crystal Hamilton, 29, (left) and officer Ashley Guindon, 28, (right) were both shot dead by Hamilton at their home in 2016. Guindon was working her first shift as an officer when she was killed

Guindon was working her first shift as an officer with the Prince Williams County Police Department when she responded to a domestic violence call at the Hamiltons' home (above)

He was convicted of repeatedly shooting his wife with a handgun after they got into an argument about her attending a male dance revue with her girlfriends.

The couple's 11-year-old son was inside the home when the shooting occurred.

Guindon was working her first shift as an officer with the Prince Williams County Police Department when she responded to a domestic violence call at the Hamiltons' home.

When police arrived at the home, Hamilton opened fire with a military-style rifle and killed Guindon.

Two other officers, Dave McKeown and Jesse Hempen, were also shot by Hamilton but survived.

McKeown testified last year the death-penalty trial, saying he recalled kicking down the door of the home and seeing Hamilton standing there with the AK-47.

Two other officers, Dave McKeown (right) and Jesse Hempen (left), were also shot by Hamilton but survived

Hamilton was convicted of repeatedly shooting his wife Crystal with a handgun after they got into an argument about her attending a male dance revue with her girlfriends. The victim's sister is pictured above at a makeshift memorial outside their home

'All my vision went to was the barrel of the gun,' McKeown said at the time.

He said he saw the flash of the muzzle but doesn't remember hearing the shots.

'I started feeling the impacts on my body,' McKeown said. 'I tried to draw my gun, but my arm stopped working. I knew I needed to get out of the way of the rifle.'

After the shooting, McKeown testified that he knew his circumstances were dire by the reactions of the officers who arrived to render aid.

'They were trying to stay calm, but they were definitely panicked - I could see their faces and hear their voices,' he said.

McKeown said he has had at least 15 surgeries since he was first brought in to Inova Fairfax Hospital, most of them in an effort to reconstruct a badly damaged right elbow.

Hamilton was an active duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Joint Staff Support Center at the Pentagon at the time of the killings.