TV writer sentenced in wife's death

A former television comedy writer and producer was sentenced Friday to 26 years in prison in the beating death of his wife.

Forty-nine-year-old J.J. Paulsen was sentenced Friday in Hamilton Superior Court on charges of voluntary manslaughter, neglect of a dependent and moving a body from the scene of death. Prosecutors had dropped a charge of murder as part of a plea agreement.

Judge Dan Pfleging also ordered that Paulsen cannot write, produce or direct, or collaborate with anyone in those activities, to profit from his wife's death.

The body of Leanne Serrano-Paulsen, 39, was found in April 2007 in the attic of the couple's upscale home in Carmel north of Indianapolis.

When officers entered the home, they found the couple's 16-month-old son, Christopher, alone in a crib, crying but unharmed. J.J. Paulsen, who was found walking along a street about three miles away, was arrested on charges of child abandonment and violation of probation...