RENO, NV  --  A fifty-year-old Reno man hired a hit man to kill his wife so that he could live out his sexuality. Now he has been sentenced to spend the next 15 years in jail instead.

James Gau, a father of six, will be eligible for parole in two years under the sentence imposed Thursday by Washoe District Judge Connie Steinheimer.

Sheryl Gau asked the judge to give her estranged husband probation, saying she wanted his financial support and hoped the family could reunite, Kolo 8 reports.

James Gau pleaded guilty to solicitation of murder for asking a police informant in July to go to his wife's home in American Fork, Utah, and pretend to be a robber and strangle her.

Gau said he left his family and moved to Reno because he wanted to live as a homosexual.

Last update: 02-08-2008 15:20