A former beauty queen from Washington has been sentenced to four years in prison for being an accomplice to a murder in 2003.
Peggy Sue Thomas, 47, was scheduled last month to go on trial for first-degree murder but she then pleaded guilty last month for a lesser charge of "first-degree rendering criminal assistance under a plea deal with Island County prosecutors," reported MSN.
Thomas was accused of plotting with her boyfriend at the time, James Huden, to kill Russel Douglas in 2003 just two days after Christmas on Dec. 27. Douglas was found dead in his car on a rural road in Freeland of Whidbey Island. He was shot in the head.
Huden has been convicted of first degree murder and got 80 years in prison.
The case has been dubbed by media as the "Drop Dead Gorgeous Case" and has received national media attention.
The Seattle Times reported that the court that prosecutors are offering to recommend a four year sentence due to her last month's guilty plea of first degree rendering criminal assistance.
If she had been convicted of murder she would have faced 45 years in prison.
"She has escaped a major-league crime for a minor-league sentence," said Jim Douglas, the victim's father according to The Seattle Times.
Superior Court Judge Alan Hancock's urged Thomas to speak about the motive for the crime but she kept silent during the sentencing hearing on Friday.
"I call on her to give a full account of what she knows," Hancock said according to The Seattle Times. "Without this information there will always be a cloud over this. If Ms. Thomas does not tell everything she knows, it is only fair she be tormented the rest of her life by what she knows."
The victim's mother, Gail O'Neal begged Thomas to talk, reported The Seattle Times.
"According to charging documents, Thomas lured Douglas to an ambush with promises of a Christmas gift.
The motive remains murky. But Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks said Douglas may have been killed because Thomas and Huden believed he had been abusing his wife and children," reported The Seattle Times.
Thomas was once married to oil millionaire Mark Allen.
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