A California couple who snatched an 11-year-old girl near a school bus stop in 1991 and kept her for 18 years have entered guilty pleas for kidnapping and rape. The plea deal will spare Jaycee Dugard, 30, and her two daughters, 13 and 16, from testifying against Phillip and Nancy Garrido.
The Garridos had both entered surprise not guilty pleas earlier in the month after being expected to accept plea deals on the table at the time.
“The enormity of the defendants’ actions has caused tremendous pain and suffering to Jaycee, her mother Terry Probyn and their family,” Prosecutor Vern Pierson said in a written statement. “With a guilty plea by both defendants, Terry, Jaycee and her children can now be spared the grief and trauma of having to be dragged into the court process to testify at a jury trial.”
Parole Possible for Nancy
Under the plea deals accepted today in a hastily arranged court hearing, Phillip Garridos will receive a sentence of 431 years to life. Nancy Garridos, however, will be sentenced to 25 years to life, plus another 11 years.
She would be eligible for parole in 31 years.
Until both defendants entered unexpected not guilty pleas on April 7, the best deal offered to Nancy Garrido was 241 years to life.
The plea deal Nancy Garrido, 55, accepted today leaves open the possibility, however slight, that she might some day be paroled, a deal her attorney Stephen Tapson has fought for since the beginning of negotiations.
Not Properly Supervised
Phillip Garrido fathered two children of Jaycee during her 18 years in captivity in a maze of tents and sound-proof structures in the Garrido’s back yard. Nancy Garrido helped her husband kidnap Jaycee in South Lake Tahoe in 1991 and help deliver the two children.
Phillip was on supervised parole during much of the time that Jaycee was being held. The state of California offered her a $20 million settlement after state officials were charged with not properly supervising Garrido while on parole for another rape.
Official sentencing is scheduled June 2.
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