A 59 year-old man who said his religious beliefs justified taking his 10 year-old niece as his wife will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. James Wallace Fall of Mound was sentenced to at least 16 years in prison in Hennepin District Court. He declined to speak at his sentencing yesterday. So did the girl he abused for many years. She’s now 19 years old.

Fall, who suffers from a degenerative neuro-muscular disease, is expected to remain in prison for the rest of his life.