NEWPORT BEACH (CNS) - A 43-year-old appliance thief who allowed a stove stolen in Menifee to topple off his truck on an Anaheim freeway, triggering a collision that killed an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, was sentenced today to time already served in custody after his conviction was reduced from murder to manslaughter.
Cole Wilkins, who was released from custody on Friday, had been serving a 16-year-to-life term for a second-degree murder conviction when a three-justice panel of the state's 4th District Court of Appeal reduced his conviction to involuntary manslaughter in January.
The state Attorney General's Office declined to appeal the ruling, clearing the way for Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett to sentence Wilkins to four years in prison. Wilkins has
