SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- A man convicted of stealing a gun used in a murder was sentenced Tuesday in Colville to 125 years in prison.
The Spokesman-Review reports the Stevens County judge gave 27-year-old Christopher G. Nichols a sentence about 100 years longer than the terms given to three people convicted of killing a Colville man during a June 2011 robbery.
Nichols was convicted of gun theft, trafficking in stolen property and being a felon in possession firearms.
Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen says the sentences for the gun crimes must be served one after another, as a result of Washington's 1995 "Hard time for Armed Crime" law.
Nichols and his lawyer took the case to trial after turning down a plea deal that would have reduced his sentence by about 100 years.
