STROUDSBURG, Pa.—A former Pennsylvania pastor has been sentenced to life in prison without parole in the fatal bludgeoning of his second wife in 2008.

Arthur "A.B." Schirmer was sentenced in Monroe County Court on Monday, nearly two months after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the death of Betty Schirmer.

The conviction brought an automatic life sentence.

Prosecutors say he clubbed his wife on the head with a crowbar, then loaded her into their car and staged a low-speed accident in an effort to conceal the crime.

Schirmer is also charged with killing his first wife, Jewel Schirmer, in 1999. He awaits trial in that case.

He has maintained his innocence in both cases.