GARDNER PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDERS OF CHELSEA KING & AMBER DUBOIS

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By Kristin Kjaero

April 17, 2010 (San Diego, California) -- In a surprised development, John Albert Gardner pled guilty to the murders of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois “with premeditation and deliberation,” special circumstances for both murders while engaged in the act of rape, and the attack and attempted rape of Candice Moncayo.

In the Factual Basis for the Plea Gardner stated that he raped and strangled King within an hour of their initial contact on February 25, 2010, and raped and stabbed Dubois to death within 90 minutes of that initial contact on February 13, 2010. (See the "Charges against Gardner" link here.)
Under the plea Gardner agreed to the “maximum punishment allowed by the law other than death,” including serve two consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole, waive his rights to file an appeal, and pay a restitution fine of $20,000.
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis stated that three days after being arraigned on charges of murdering King, her office reached an agreement with Gardner that the information would not be used against him if he lead them to Dubois' body.

Authorities found the remains on March 6 north of Pala, but authorities were unable to find DNA evidence that would enable them to charge him with Dubois' death.

"By accepting this guilty plea, we are obtaining a conviction for the murder of Amber that we would not otherwise have been able to obtain," Dumanis stated.

In agreeing with the DA to accept Gardner’s guilty plea, the King family released a statement that while “our unequivocal first choice is the death penalty, we acknowledge that in California that penalty has become an empty promise.”

They described the process of reaching their decision as torturous, and “There is nothing satisfying about this moment. It is only one more unbearably painful day that we will have to carry in our memory as long as we live.”

Multiple reasons were given for their decision, including to provide their 13-year old son Tyler as normal a childhood as possible, to assist the Dubois family in obtaining a confession, and to heal the community.

The Kings continue, as they have throughout, to stand out as a profile in grace and courage amidst tragedy. “Lastly, we know that Chelsea and thousands of others are counting on us. Now unencumbered from a protracted trial, we can fully devote ourselves to raising our son and bringing about changes that protect our children,” their statement concluded.


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