Man faces jail for shooting wife outside Lake Forest Hotel – Orange County Register

A Lake Forest man who gunned down his estranged wife outside a hotel in that city two years ago was sentenced to life in prison this week.

Philip Douglas Whyte, 62, was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison on Tuesday, Oct. 11, court documents show, several months after an Orange County Superior Court jury found him guilty of first-degree murder.

Whyte shot his wife three times just before 1:15 p.m. on June 10, 2020 at the Hilton Garden Inn on Lake Center Drive. Cindy Whyte, 43, died in hospital a short time later.

MPs found a pistol in Whyte’s car and a written statement in which he gave his views on the ups and downs of the couple’s relationship, including his belief that she had been unfaithful and a discussion of his health and work issues, so the court documents.

Investigators recreated messages sent between the estranged couple in which he offered increasingly bitter grievances and she said she was afraid of him, according to court records. At least one person saw Whyte shoot his wife dead, according to court records, while a couple told investigators Whyte told them he “just shot his wife who ruined his life”.

Whyte’s defense attorney had argued that Whyte was suffering from “significant mental health problems”, a major depressive disorder, at the time of the murder; In addition, the attorney said, he was suicidal and struggling with the loss of his marriage and home.

In a statement filed with the court, a sister wrote that Cindy Whyte left the couple’s home to avoid abuse, adding that Philip Whyte tracked her down to the hotel and followed her. She described her sister as a “good, loving, caring, selfless soul” who “always puts others before herself.”