So-called ‘Black Widower’ Thomas Randolph sentenced to at least 60 years in prison
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A Clark County judge sentenced the man known as the “black widower” to at least 60 years in prison Thursday for the murder of his wife and the man he hired to kill her.
Thomas Randolph, 69, insisted he was innocent and vowed to appeal. Nonetheless, Judge Tierra Jones sentenced Randolph to two consecutive life sentences with additional prison time for gun charges.
“I didn’t kill Sharon,” Randolph said of his late wife in a rambling, bizarre, 15-minute-long soliloquy before sentencing. “I have nothing to do with this.”
‘Black Widower’ interview with police shown to jury during Day 2 of murder trial
However, prosecutors, two juries, and two judges thought otherwise.
Randolph was convicted in 2017 on these same charges – of shooting the man he hired to stage a robbery and kill his wife – but the Nevada Supreme Court ordered he be tried a second time.
Prosecutors in the original trial introduced evidence that Randolph took a life insurance policy on Sharon Randolph early in their relationship. He eventually befriended and, prosecutors said, hired the hitman – Michael Miller – to kill his wife in 2008 before fatally shooting Miller. But the Nevada Supreme Court said the 2017 jury never should have heard evidence about the 1986 death of Randolph’s second wife, Becky Gault, in Utah.
So-called ‘Black Widower,’ Thomas Randolph verdict announced
“We’ll deal with it at some point soon,” Randolph said of his intent to appeal, thanking prosecutors for choosing not to seek the death penalty in his second trial. That he says, will allow him to “fast track” his appeal. His first trial resulted in a death sentence.
One of the prosecutors in the 2023 murder trial said Randolph is motivated by greed.
“He’s never going to take responsibility,” Chris Hamner, the chief deputy district attorney said after the sentencing. “It’s always going to be someone else’s fault. So that’s what you saw today.”
Randolph is due back in court on April 18 so the judge can appoint him appellate attorneys. Those attorneys, like the two defense attorneys who represented Randolph at trial – only to have Randolph go to great lengths to try and fire them after his conviction – will be paid for with taxpayer money.
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