Final defendant in Craigslist slaying gets 124 years in prison

Friday was an ending of sorts for Charlene Sanders of Edgewood.

A judge sentenced the final defendant in the death of her husband to nearly 124 years in prison. A jury last week convicted Clabon Berniard of first-degree murder and five other felonies in the fatal home-invasion robbery in which Jim Sanders died.

There will be no more trials to testify in for Charlene Sanders, no more sentencing hearings to attend.

For that, she said, she is grateful.

But it also was the beginning for what she called her “new normal” – trying to regain some semblance of peace in the aftermath of tragedy and the long legal grind that followed.

“I just want to have some quiet,” she said outside court Friday. “I just want to spend some time in the garden I planted for my husband.”

Jim Sanders, 43, died April 28, 2010, while trying to defend his family from four robbers who gained access to his home by posing as buyers for a ring he’d advertised on Craigslist.

Amanda Knight, Kiyoshi Higashi, Joshua Reese and Berniard tied up Jim and Charlene Sanders and held their two school-age sons at gunpoint during the robbery. Jim and Charlene Sanders also were beaten during the incident.

Berniard, 24, was the last to go to trial. Knight, Higashi and Reese previously were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms. The three confessed to taking part in the fatal robbery.

Berniard argued he wasn’t there that night and that Pierce County sheriff’s detectives arrested the wrong man. He reiterated that contention during his sentencing hearing.

“I just want to say I’m innocent,” he said.

The jury saw it differently, as did Superior Court Judge Rosanne Buckner, who agreed with deputy prosecutors Mary Robnett and Karen Watson that Berniard deserved a sentence far above the standard range.

It was Berniard, the prosecution argued during trial, who held a gun to the back of Charlene Sanders’ head and began counting backward from three while her husband and their two children watched, intimating he’d shoot her if she didn’t tell him where her family kept their safe.

It was Berniard, the prosecution alleged, who shouted for Higashi to shoot Jim Sanders when he started to fight.

It was Berniard who Charlene Sanders called “the mean one” during her testimony in his trial.

Relatives of Jim Sanders called him worse Friday: “coward,” “murderer,” “bully,” “gutless.”

Charlene Sanders told the judge she’d never get over the loss of her true love and best friend.

“Jim gave his life for his family,” she said. “And he didn’t have to die because (Berniard) wanted our stuff. We were pleading with them to take everything and go.”

James Sanders, the victim’s father, read a statement into the record from Jim Sanders’ brother, Derek, who was unable to attend Friday’s sentencing.

James Sanders said Berniard robbed not just items from the Sanders’ home but also a father from his children and a husband from his wife.

John Ringer said his cousin Jim was the kind of man who made everyone around him feel special, with a big smile and a faith in God.

“He was the ideal figure of the good man,” Ringer said. “He was loved by so many people and respected by even more.”

Berniard’s attorney, Cathleen Gormley, made no statement on her client’s behalf Friday. She told Buckner she would rely on a sentencing memorandum she filed with the court. That document was not publicly available Friday evening.

Sitting next to her at the defense table, his hands and legs shackled, Berniard betrayed no emotion as Sanders’ relatives made their remarks or as Buckner announced his 1,486-month term of confinement.

He retained his stoic expression as officers led him off to jail to begin serving a sentence that surely will see him die in prison.

Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644
adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime