Saturday, January 23, 2010

Antioch, CA: Antioch man sentenced to 90 years for ex-girlfriend's murder

By Malaika Fraley
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 01/22/2010 04:48:32 PM PST
Updated: 01/22/2010 04:48:32 PM PST

MARTINEZ — An Antioch man who recruited his sister to kill his ex-girlfriend was sentenced to 90 years to life in prison today.
Richard Gaines, 59, was painted at trial as a bitter alcoholic who, while in the process of moving out of Shelia Hegler's Antioch apartment, wanted Hegler dead but was unable to do the deed himself. The siblings were each convicted of first-degree murder; Richard Gaines was additionally convicted of solicitation of murder.
He and sister Mary went to Hegler's Antioch apartment June 18, 2008, and fatally shot Hegler, 40, in front of her teenage son, according to trial testimony. About 20 minutes later, Richard Gaines went to a Raley's and used a pair of garden shears to cut off from his ankle the global positioning monitor he was required to wear as a condition of his parole from a child molestation conviction. That night, police found him passed out drunk under a car across the street from Hegler's apartment.
Mary Gaines, 55, was sentenced to 55 years to life in prison earlier this month.

No comments: