Insets: Michael Edgington and Sydney Palmer (Sumner County Sheriff’s Office/Cornejo Funeral Home & Crematory). Background: Sydney Palmer’s family in court Monday, Jan. 6, at Michael Edgington’s sentencing (Sumner NewsCow/Facebook).
Emma Cooley, the mother of Michael Edgington’s late wife, Sydney Palmer, who was tragically shot by Edgington during a domestic dispute in Kansas, emotionally addressed her son-in-law during his sentencing. Cooley expressed her deep disappointment and anger towards Edgington, revealing how he had tormented Palmer’s family with disturbing actions and statements following the murder.
Cooley recounted one instance where Edgington callously asked for a PlayStation during their first conversation after Palmer’s tragic death. The chilling behavior and lack of empathy displayed by Edgington deeply affected Palmer’s grieving family, as noted by the local news outlet Sumner NewsCow.
“Well, here’s your PlayStation,” she told Edgington, placing one of the video game consoles on a bench close to where he was sitting.
Palmer, 25, was fighting with Edgington on July 3 before her death and allegedly threw a 4.04-ounce concrete figurine at his head, according to police. “I could see he had a bump on his forehead,” a responding officer said in the incident report, per the Sumner NewsCow.
Edgington’s response: Gunning her down with a 9 mm pistol.
“I understand I did something wrong,” he said Monday at his sentencing, during which he got hit with 61 months in prison — roughly five years — for second-degree murder.
“But I don’t feel I am a threat to society,” Edgington told Sumner County District Court Judge William Mott, who gave him the maximum sentence allowed, along with 36 months of probation. Edgington will also be barred from possessing firearms moving forward.
In addition to asking for his PlayStation, Edgington also disgusted Palmer’s family with an alleged decision to get remarried at the house he shared with Palmer, with the wedding ceremony allegedly going down inside.
“This is the place where you killed your ex-wife and my daughter,” Cooley told him Monday. “And you have a wedding there as if she hadn’t existed.”
On top of that, Edgington also repeatedly told Palmer’s family members that he was acting in self-defense and that Palmer was ultimately to blame for her death, according to Cooley.
In police interviews, Edgington stated: “Sydney had manic episodes. A doctor recently had taken her off her medication (Vraylar) and she came angry at him for not taking out the trash. She then began breaking things inside the residence and [Edgington] told her to stop. She then took a concrete figurine and threatened to throw it at me. I told her to stop. She threw it at me and hit me in the head.”
According to Cooley, Edgington was also known to allegedly litter and throw cigarettes out at her grave site.
“She loved you,” Cooley told him on Monday. “Even in her last breath to law enforcement, she didn’t want to admit you killed her. She was always trying to protect you.”
