A Northern California white supremacist convicted of killing a child molester has been sentenced to 26 years to life in prison, while his wife — convicted of being an accessory — will be released from jail in about two months, The Sacramento Bee reported Saturday.
Charles Francis Gaskins, 48, was sentenced Friday after pleading no contest in March for the killing of Neil Hayes in 2009. A probation report said Gaskins was a member of a supremacist group that required its members to attack anyone with a history of child molestation.
Gaskins and his wife — Sandra Sheaves — was living in a home she owned in Carmichael, a community outside of Sacramento, when they allowed the 66-year-old Hayes to move in. Gaskins had met Hayes while they were both serving time in prison, The Bee said.
When Sheaves discovered on the Megan's Law website that Hayes was a registered sex offender, she told Gaskins.
Gaskins and Sheaves confronted Hayes in the garage of the home, with Gaskins killing him by repeatedly hitting him in the head with a large rock, prosecutors said.
Hayes' body was later found dumped along the side of a rural road about 35 miles away in Placerville.
As part of his no-contest plea, Gaskins insisted authorities go easy on Sheaves, who also was charged with Hayes' murder.
Prosecutors agreed, allowing her to plead no contest to accessory to murder. Sheaves, 43, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
"In a way, you almost instigated this, by showing the information from Megan's Law to Mr. Gaskins," Sacramento Superior Court Judge Sharon Lueras said in sentencing Sheaves.
With time served and other factors, Sheaves is expected to be released in 66 days, according to her attorney, James Warden.