Brian Waldron killed a neighbor's 21-year-old son, then dismembered the body and dumped the parts near Shaver Lake.
Waldron claimed the victim was a gang member, and he killed in self-defense, but the jury found him guilty of murder.
From the moment he walked into court, Brian Waldron could barely keep quiet. After almost two hours of cuts from his sharp tongue, the judge brought his interruptions to an end.
"Mr. Waldron," said Judge Hilary Chittick.
"Yes," Waldron said.
"If you continue to be disruptive, I'm going to remove you from the courtroom," Judge Chittick warned.
"Can I just go now?" Waldron asked. "Would that be okay?"
"If you wish to," Chittick said.
"Yeah, I'll just go now," Waldron said. "I've had quite enough of this circus. Thank you, your honor. Hahahaha."
Waldron gathered his paperwork and left, but not before one final jab at the proceedings.
"Bye everybody," Waldron said. "It's been real. Hahaha."
Judge Chittick gave Waldron some time to change his mind and settle down, but his behavior only got worse in a holding cell.
As he came unhinged, his screams could be heard from the courthouse hallway.
"I don't want to go back in there," he screamed. "There's no reason for me to go back in there. Why would I go back in there?"
Last month, a jury convicted Waldron of murder.
He admitted to killing 21-year-old Jonathan Taylor in 2008, but claimed he was defending himself against a man he believed to be a gang member, even when he cut the body into pieces which he later buried near Shaver Lake.
His defense attorneys say the former paralegal is a different person now after spending five years in solitary confinement, and his outbursts just show frustration with the system.
"This is his life on the line," said public defender Stephanie Negin. "That's why he's emotional. He's fighting for his life. Like I said, he believes that he's innocent."
Taylor's family members didn't want to be seen on camera, but they told me Waldron's conduct only highlighted what he's really all about.
"The way that this man took his life was really animalistic to me," said Taylor's cousin, Sophia Montano. "Any human being who would do that to another human being is not a human being."
In the end, with Waldron's seat empty, the judge sentenced him to spend at least 28 years in prison on a life sentence.
