The fourth and final defendant in the slaying of Jim Sanders' has been charged with murder earlier this month. Clabon Berniard has been sentenced to over 123 years in prison for the cold-blooded shooting of Sanders – following an attempt to sell a diamond ring he posted on Craigslist in April 2011.
Berniard was convicted of six charges, including first-degree murder and burglary. He is essentially serving a life sentence, despite having claimed he was never in Sanders' home the night he was killed.
The 24-year-old's actions displayed "deliberate cruelty" a jury deemed Sept. 9, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.
The Edgewood, Wash., resident and his wife, Charlene Sanders, had posted an ad for the ring on Craigslist, which Berniard and three other suspects, posing as interested buyers, had contacted the couple about seeing.
Sanders was tied up and forced to watch the assault of his wife and two sons, ages 10 and 14, before he was shot and killed.
His murder was the result of a robbery gone awry.
Berniard, along with accomplices Kiyoshi Higashi, Joshua Reese, and Amanda Knight, visited Sanders’ home with the intent to rob him of the ring and other possessions.
Charlene Sanders, referring to Berniard as “the mean one,” stated that he yelled and screamed at her family. Berniard said he was going to shoot them and then kicked Charlene Sanders in the head, before tying her up.
He also pistol-whipped their 14-year-old son, The News Tribune wrote.
Now that her husband's final killer has been put away, Charlene is looking to rebuild her life.
Members of her local church in Edgewood have pitched in, helping with household chores such as setting up a retaining wall - a project her husband had started.
According to the widow, the biggest job was the retaining wall and her husband would be “smiling ear-to-ear and saying ‘thank you for taking care of my wife,’” Q13 Fox News has reported.
“It means the world to me, what you’ve done here,” Charlene said to the group of volunteers who helped the widow with tasks that were sometimes “too much.”
"Seeing this today, I know I can get through each day knowing the love is around me and I want to say 'thank you' to all of you,” she stated.
Higashi, convicted earlier, has been sentenced to 109 years. In addition Reese and Knight are serving 100 years and 71 years respectively.
Berniard was convicted of six charges, including first-degree murder and burglary. He is essentially serving a life sentence, despite having claimed he was never in Sanders' home the night he was killed.
The 24-year-old's actions displayed "deliberate cruelty" a jury deemed Sept. 9, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.
The Edgewood, Wash., resident and his wife, Charlene Sanders, had posted an ad for the ring on Craigslist, which Berniard and three other suspects, posing as interested buyers, had contacted the couple about seeing.
Sanders was tied up and forced to watch the assault of his wife and two sons, ages 10 and 14, before he was shot and killed.
His murder was the result of a robbery gone awry.
Berniard, along with accomplices Kiyoshi Higashi, Joshua Reese, and Amanda Knight, visited Sanders’ home with the intent to rob him of the ring and other possessions.
Charlene Sanders, referring to Berniard as “the mean one,” stated that he yelled and screamed at her family. Berniard said he was going to shoot them and then kicked Charlene Sanders in the head, before tying her up.
He also pistol-whipped their 14-year-old son, The News Tribune wrote.
Now that her husband's final killer has been put away, Charlene is looking to rebuild her life.
Members of her local church in Edgewood have pitched in, helping with household chores such as setting up a retaining wall - a project her husband had started.
According to the widow, the biggest job was the retaining wall and her husband would be “smiling ear-to-ear and saying ‘thank you for taking care of my wife,’” Q13 Fox News has reported.
“It means the world to me, what you’ve done here,” Charlene said to the group of volunteers who helped the widow with tasks that were sometimes “too much.”
"Seeing this today, I know I can get through each day knowing the love is around me and I want to say 'thank you' to all of you,” she stated.
Higashi, convicted earlier, has been sentenced to 109 years. In addition Reese and Knight are serving 100 years and 71 years respectively.
