A Howard County judge sentenced a Columbia man to life in prison Wednesday after police said he attacked his estranged wife with a machete earlier this year.

Circuit Court Judge Lenore Gelfman broke with state sentencing guidelines, which recommended no more than 20 years in prison, when she sentenced Frederick Evrod Jones, 54, to the maximum penalty allowed by law.

Recommended Stories

Mom who trusted child to sex offender avoids jail

Trial date set for man accused of stabbing wife

?Sweet 16? murder brings anger, lengthy prison sentences