CHICAGO — A former Northwestern University professor was sentenced to 53 years in prison Tuesday for the violent slaying of his boyfriend.
Wyndham Lathem appeared at his sentencing hearing before Judge Charles Burns, more than four years after the fatal stabbing of Trenton Cornell, Lathem’s 26-year-old boyfriend. Lathem, 47, was convicted of first-degree murder in October after a nearly two-week trial.
Burns said his sentencing range for Lathem was 20 to 60 years and that he believed 53 years to be “most appropriate” considering all of the factors at play, including the facts pointing to the killing being premeditated and gruesome. The judge said he also weighed Lathem’s seemingly upstanding disposition in his professional and personal life prior to the crime.
