Alfredo Merigo, 43, stabbed his wife with a steak knife as their two-year-old son sat near them in a chair. He later left his 40-year-old wife Linda dead on the driveway, the Sheffield Crown Court was told.
Merigo also studied what kind of sentences were handed down for murder or manslaughter and looked at websites to see what prison life was like, the Daily Mail reported.
The couple reportedly had a stormy relationship and Merigo allegedly murdered his wife because she refused to be reconciled with him.
Though Merigo admitted manslaughter charges, he has denied committing murder.
The couple married in 2008. But they frequently argued and Linda blamed her husband for being suspicious and attempting to control her.
She moved out of their home in Driffield, Yorkshire, in April 2009 and began divorce proceedings.
Linda moved to a rented house and her husband was not allowed on his estranged wife's property.
But Merigo was keen to resume the relationship on a permanent basis, saying his son needed both parents around him.
When she discovered he planned to move back in, she told him to go away and in a series of text messages told him he was "nasty" and "could not be trusted".
A few days later, Merigo went to her house and stabbed her.
