“I Still Love Him” – Says Bride Who Murdered Her Groom On Their Wedding Day

A tearful woman was sentenced to life in prison this week, after telling the mother of her fiance –- a man she fatally stabbed on their wedding day –- she was still in love with her son.

“I didn’t mean to kill him. I didn’t … I love him.

 I do still love him. I love him more than myself,” Na Cola Franklin, 32, told Barbara Obas during her sentencing hearing in Lehigh County Court on Tuesday.

Obas’ son, 36-year-old Billy Brewster, was stabbed to death by Franklin on Aug. 11, 2012, the day he was to become her husband. In May, Franklin was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Speaking in court, Obas had no sympathy for the woman who took her son’s life.

“You killed him because you could … you took advantage of him … In doing that you also took your own life,” the distraught mother said.

Brewster and Franklin had a son together and each had a child from a previous relationship. The children were present during the stabbing, police said.

During the trial, Franklin, a former preschool teacher, testified that prior to the stabbing a drunken Brewster came home from a bachelor party and assaulted her. She said she attacked him with a knife as he tried to leave the residence with their 9-month-old son. 

She was protecting the child, she said.

Prosecutors said the child was not in danger and no evidence was found supporting the alleged assault. Witnesses at the scene also testified Franklin was the one being violent.

The most damning evidence came from Franklin herself in the form of a 911 call she placed to police during the fight.

After telling a 911 operator her boyfriend beat her up and stole her baby, Franklin, according to prosecutors, can be heard telling Brewster, “You want to die tonight?” and shouts, “Die! Die!”

According to the medical examiner, Brewster was stabbed in the left side of his chest. 

 The knife punctured his heart and he was pronounced dead a short time later.

The fatal stabbing occurred at about 2 a.m., roughly eight hours before the couple were due to be wed.

Before she was sentenced to a mandatory life term, Franklin told the judge she is not a “bad person.”

“I’m not a criminal. I’m not a murderer. It was an accident … it wasn’t intentional. If I could take it back, I would,” Franklin said.

Franklin’s defense attorney John Waldron told WFMZ.com that he plans to file an appeal.

“Maybe we can convince another court that it was a manslaughter case and not a murder in the first degree case,” said Waldron.