The former nurse convicted for the now-infamous ?Suitcase Murder? was sentenced to life in prison Thursday.

Melanie McGuire, 34, was convicted in April of shooting her husband, William, and dismembering him in 2004. McGuire then put his remains in three suitcases and dumped them in the Chesapeake Bay.

William?s family and friends made emotional statements to the court before the judge handed down his sentence. McGuire declined to speak to the court before her sentencing.

?In this case, the court finds the crime was so heinous ? so cruel and so depraved, that the maximum sentence should be imposed,? said Judge Frederick DeVesa, of the Middlesex County Superior Court.

McGuire?s defense attorneys said they expected their client to get the maximum sentence of life in prison. However, they do plan to appeal, which they said they couldn?t do until her sentencing.

Related Information:McGuire held for psychiatric observation after verdict Jury convicts wife in suitcase murder trial NJ dismemberment testimony: Ex-lover continued affair after he helped police Lawyers paint two pictures of victim at NJ dismemberment trial Wife arrested in slaying, dismembering of Woodbridge man