Burcham sentenced to life in prison for spousal abuse, torture, attempted murder, more

Bonsall resident Joshua Burcham has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty on one count of spousal abuse; two counts of attempted murder with allegations of personal use of a deadly weapon and inflicting gross bodily injury; and one count of torture with the allegations of personal use of a deadly weapon and inflicting bodily injury.

The torture count called for the life term. In order for Burcham to receive a life sentence for the attempted murder, the allegation of premeditation would have found to be true by the jury. However, it was not.

According to Sheriff’s deputy Jeff Lauhon, who was the lead investigating officer in the case, Burcham will not begin serving his life sentence until after 18 years and eight months of prison time.

“Once he serves the 18 years, eight moths, the life sentence begins,” stated Lauhon. “ will not be eligible for parole until seven years after that, meaning he will not be eligible for parole for 25 years, eight months.”

Though Lauhon did not speak to the Eagleton family – the family that had been victimized by Burcham – after the sentencing, he stated they had declared they were “pleased” with the result.

“Personally, I would have been happy if this had never happened in first place,” said Lauhon. “It had been a big investigation involving a lot of people. We all came together in the end to pull this case together.”