New Jersey Man Who Murdered His Extranged Wife and One Other In Church Expected To Receive Life In Prison

A California man convicted of shooting and killing his estranged wife and another person inside a New Jersey church faces sentencing Friday.

Joseph Pallipurath (PAL'-ee-PYOR'-ath) of Sacramento is expected to receive life in prison without parole.

He was convicted last month of murdering 24-year-old Reshma James and 25-year-old Dennis Mallooseril, a bystander who tried to help her. He was also convicted of attempted murder for shooting another woman.

Prosecutors say Pallipurath drove across the country to confront his wife, who had left to escape what relatives say was an abusive marriage. She was killed in the vestibule of St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya (kah-nah-NYE'-uh) Church in Clifton on the Monday before Thanksgiving 2008.

Pallipurath was arrested in Georgia within two days.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/05/27/state/n003012D54.DTL#ixzz1Na9rpHoc