MANASSAS, Virginia—An Army staff sergeant has been convicted of fatally shooting his wife and a rookie Virginia police officer. He has been sentenced to seven consecutive life terms.
News outlets report that Ronald Hamilton was formally sentenced Thursday for the 2016 killings of Officer Ashley Guindon and his wife, Crystal Hamilton.
Ronald Hamilton is set to spend life in prison for killing Officer Ashley Guindon and his wife, Crystal Hamilton. Guindon was working her first shift when she responded to a domestic violence call at the Hamiltons’ home in Woodbridge, Virginia. https://t.co/q2olfFogEr
— NBCWashington (@nbcwashington) March 7, 2019
The 28-year-old Guindon was working her first shift as an officer with the Prince William County Police Department when she responded to a domestic violence call at the Hamiltons’ home in Woodbridge. Two other officers also were shot by Hamilton but survived.
A jury spared Hamilton’s life in October when it deadlocked on whether he should get the death penalty.
During the sentencing hearing, Guindon’s mother called Hamilton a “vicious, cold-blooded, heartless killer.”
EMOTIONAL REACTION: Cherry Murphy, Crystal Hamilton’s mother reacts to the verdict of Ronald Hamilton @fox5dc pic.twitter.com/UJgE69Uhbo
— Ike Ejiochi (@IkeEjiochi) March 7, 2019
Hamilton wiped tears from his face during the hearing.
Ex-Husband of Slain Soldier Sentenced to Sentenced to Life
In another case of domestic abuse, a Kentucky soldier who admitted to having his ex-wife killed and to helping hide her body, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole on March 1.
A judge sentenced Sgt. Jamal Williams-McCray to life in prison, but due to a pre-trial agreement with the convening authority, his sentence in prison is limited to 75 years.
Soldier sentenced to life in Shadow McClaine’s murder https://t.co/lx65sklAWD
— The Leaf-Chronicle (@LeafChronicle) March 2, 2019
The Leaf-Chronicle reports Williams-McCray entered into a plea agreement during a hearing at the Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line on Feb. 27.
Williams-McCray pleaded guilty to charges including premeditated murder in the death of Pfc. Shadow McClaine. In exchange, he won’t face the death penalty.
The ex-husband of a Fort Campbell soldier, whose body was found months after she went missing in 2016, reportedly admitted in a Fort Campbell hearing Wednesday that he had his estranged wife, Shadow McClaine, killed and helped hide her body. https://t.co/udCoCiIGao pic.twitter.com/M60xwOAUSe
— WHVO (@whvoradio) February 28, 2019
Another soldier, Spc. Charles Robinson III, pleaded guilty previously to charges including murder in the case and was sentenced to 25 years. Robinson said McClaine’s ex-husband offered to pay him $10,000 to kill her and help hide the body.
McClaine disappeared in September 2016. Her remains were found the following January and flown home to Yuba City, California.
RIP Shadow McClaine. Thank you for your service @CBSSacramento See full honor ceremony tonight at 10 pic.twitter.com/fUcvgLy6WB
— JENN MCGRAW CBS13 (@NewsMcGraw) February 4, 2017
McClaine’s mother, London Wegrzyn, says the family is “glad we are getting justice finally.”