A Michigan judge lamented that he could not mete out the death penalty for the 1979 stabbing death of Helen Dutcher during sentencing Tuesday for confessed serial killer Coral Eugene Watts.

"This case cries out for the death penalty, no, it screams for the death penalty," Oakland County Circuit Judge Richard Kuhn said. "But Michigan does not allow it."

Instead, Coral Eugene Watts received life without parole for the first-degree murder of Helen Dutcher, 37, who was stabbed 12 times in the face, neck and chest in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale.

On the record, Kuhn also urged Michigan's legislators to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2006.

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"The provisions I recommend are any person convicted of first-degree premeditated murder is subject to the death penalty, provided the jury unanimously agrees to it and that the judge also agrees to it," Kuhn said.

Watts also spoke during his sentencing, telling the court that the killing of Helen Dutcher "is one murder I did not do," but that if the victim's family prefers to hate him, "that is fine with me."

Jurors convicted Watts of first-degree murder in November.

Michigan prosecutors built their case on the testimony of a man who witnessed the incident from his back porch about 80 feet away.

The sentence likely ensures Watts will die in prison, where he has been since 1982.

That was the year Watts struck a plea agreement with authorities after he was arrested for attempting to drown Houston college student Lori Lister in her bathtub.

He was already a suspect in a number of homicides in Houston, Michigan and Canada, but police did not have enough evidence to charge him.

In exchange for his confession to killing 12 women and assaulting three more in Texas and Michigan, he was sentenced to 60 years on aggravated burglary charges. The charges were aggravated because a judge ruled the scalding water in which Watts attempted to drown Lister was a deadly weapon.

Authorities thought they had locked away Watts for life, until a Texas Court of Appeals decision in an unrelated case applied to Watts.

The court ruled he had not been notified at the time of his confession that his felony could be considered aggravated because of his use of a deadly weapon.

With that ruling, Watts was deemed a nonviolent felon and became eligible to receive three days' good-time credit for every day served in prison, making him eligible for release in 2006.

The development compelled authorities in Texas and Michigan to investigate ways to block Watts' release by prosecuting him for crimes that were not part of his confession.

In January 2004, Michigan resident Joseph Foy was channel-surfing when he spotted Watts' mugshot on a cable news show.

Foy testified at Watts' trial that he immediately recognized Watts as the man he had "locked eyes" with behind his home on Dec. 1, 1979, after he saw Helen Dutcher fall to the ground dead.

"He had no feeling in his eyes, just dark, no emotion," Foy said of Watts as he allegedly walked away from the scene. "This man was in no hurry. It was like he dropped off his laundry and walked casually to his car, like nothing ever happened."

In a crucial blow to the defense, Assistant State Attorney Donna Pendergast was allowed to call survivors of Watts' assaults.

Between sobs, Julie Hernandez recalled the serial killer's laughter as he left for her dead after slashing her neck on the side of a freeway.

"I could hear his breath right on my ears when he cut me," Hernandez said as she demonstrated the slicing motion on Assistant State Attorney Tom Cameron.

Watts' attorney, Ronald Kaplovitz, emphasized the fact that Watts chose not to confess to this crime and cast doubt on the reliability of a 25-year-old eyewitness account.

"My opinion is if they didn't have that [prior bad act] evidence, this would have been an acquittal," Kaplovitz told Courttv.com.

He said his client plans to appeal his conviction.

Watts will serve his time in Michigan. He is also facing a first-degree murder charge in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, for the 1974 stabbing death of 19-year-old Gloria Steele.