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Judge During Wyngarden Sentencing: ‘Do I Need To Bind You And Gag You’

Posted at 6:17 PM, Apr 21, 2014
and last updated 2014-04-22 09:32:08-04

OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — After ranting for nearly an hour during his sentencing, Ryan Wyngarden was told by the judge, that he would be bound and gagged by deputies if necessary.

Wyngarden was sentenced in a Ottawa County courtroom to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the double murder of his sister and brother-in-law Gail and Rick Brink, a newlywed couple killed at their Park Township home back in 1987.

Wyngarden claims his conviction came from a theory that was passed down by the detectives who broke the case. While yelling during his final statements, Wyngarden said the detectives coerced his wife Pam Wyngarden into giving them a false story, one that involves his admission to her that he killed the couple just one day after the crimes were committed.

“They mentally raped my wife and put her in a position to make her feel like she had to choose between telling a lie against me or going to prison,” Wyngarden said.

He then went on to mock the detectives by saying, “Blakely (detective) said to her, ‘Yup, Pam we’re gonna solve this murder by the time that we retire…16 months.”

Then, Wyngarden lashed out at the detectives once more.

“What you did was wrong to my family…it’s wrong what you did to me,” Wyngarden said.

He then wept before the court while saying a prayer.

“I didn’t do this,” he prayed. “We did all we can. I just told the truth. You do what you can do…I didn’t kill my sister and you know it.”

Several other prayers followed in addition to Wyngarden reading scriptures from the bible.

Then, just as it appeared Wyngarden was finished with his statements, came another outburst. This time, Wyngarden went on to call the judge a liar as he was reading Wyngarden’s sentence.

“Do I need to bind you and gag you, sir…because we’ll have the deputies go out and duct tape you if it’s necessary, but you’re going to listen,” Judge Jon Hulsing said. “This was a brutal homicide, you are a brutal cold-blooded murderer…there is only one sentence that is appropriate for a cold-blooded murderer who kills two people. Michigan law mandates that you receive a maximum penalty and that is, it is the sentence of this court that you spend the rest of your life in prison on two counts.”

It’s a sentence that Rick Brink’s brother asked the judge to hand down. Prior to Wyngarden speaking out, Budd Brink gave his statement to the court, where he talked about the day he attended his brother’s funeral.

“Father North began the funeral like I’ve never heard a funeral start before and will never again,” Brink said. “He said and I quote, ‘This is not the work of the Lord, this is the work of the Devil. To that end, Ryan will be judged divinely. The holidays, the special times we only shared with family have been wiped away by Ryan, his anger and his jealousy.”

Pam Wyngarden testified during the trial that her husband admitted to killing the couple because he was jealous and also because he didn’t want Rick Brink to find out about the sexual relationship he had with his sister when they were younger.