A judge ordered a 25- to 70-year prison sentence Thursday for a woman who killed her three roommates in 2017 and previously faced the death penalty.
Christine Sanchez, 56, pleaded guilty in April to three counts of murder with a deadly weapon for the fatal shootings of Cardell Jones, Natasha Henry and Stanley Herring Jr. at what was reportedly an east Las Vegas valley drug house.
District Judge Tierra Jones ordered the sentence, which Sanchez and prosecutors agreed upon in a plea deal. Sanchez received over eight years credit for time already served.
“I believe that this sentence ensures that Ms. Sanchez will die in the Nevada Department of Corrections and that was the reason for the negotiations,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said after court.
Defense attorney Lance Maningo said Sanchez’s lawyers worked to obtain a deal that would give her the hope of someday reuniting with her family.
Sanchez was previously charged in connection with the 2014 fatal stabbing and shooting of Bonnie Marie Rice in North Las Vegas. Prosecutors dismissed the prior case in 2017, months before Sanchez killed her roommates.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said an investigation did not uncover sufficient evidence to take the case involving Rice’s death to trial.
Sanchez said she took accountability for her actions and was no longer the same person she was on the day of the shooting.
“Your honor, due to the lifestyle I was living at the time and my interactions with the victims, I’d like you to know I was in fear for my life and the life of my loved ones,” she told Jones. “That may not be justified, that may not justify my actions, but as a single mother, it is what I felt was necessary at the time.”
Sandra Brown, Herring’s grandmother, said she did not believe Sanchez had to kill three people to save her life.
Prosecutors indicated in court papers that Sanchez killed the victims systematically, first shooting Jones multiple times, then aiming a gun at Herring and firing until it emptied.
After shooting the men, she reloaded her gun, chased Henry into a bedroom and shot her, prosecutors said. She then shot Herring again.
June Griffin, the mother of Herring, said she was hurt, angry and confused.
“No matter how much money is spent, no matter what is said or what is done, it’s not going to give me closure,” she said. “It’s not going to bring my son back.”
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
