American senior citizen Gerald Wayne Mickelson, 63, was today sentenced to death after the Kuala Lumpur High Court found him guilty of murdering his ex-wife.

Justice Azman Abdullah said Mickelson's sworn testimony for his entire defence did not create reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case.

"I hereby find you guilty as charged and convict you under Section 302 of the Penal Code and I hereby sentence you, Mickelson, to death by hanging," he said.

Mickelson, who was then a consultant engineer with Ericsson, was charged with murdering Guilda Mickelson, 62, also an American citizen, in a room at a hotel at Lingkaran Syed Putra, Brickfields, between 5am and 11:45am on Nov 26, 2016.

A total of nine prosecution witnesses and two defence witnesses including the accused testified.

DPP Azeezi Nordin appeared for the prosecution, while the court assigned lawyer KA Ramu to appear for Mickelson.

Although Mickelson had divorced his wife five years earlier, they were still staying together.

Azman in his ruling said the accused failed to create reasonable doubt on how the deceased, who was said to be dependent on him, sustained the injuries during the fight that led to her death.

"The pathologist had testified the deceased suffered injuries to her neck and head.

"The prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the fatal injury inflicted which cause the death of the deceased was by manual strangulation," the judge said.

During the trial, the hotel duty manager testified that Mickelson called the hotel, and when opening the door he told the witness that "My wife is dead, I killed her."