Man convicted of killing wife and hit man sent to prison
A man convicted of orchestrating the killing of his wife and the man he hired to kill her maintained his innocence on Thursday before he was ordered to what would essentially amount to the rest of his life in prison for the two deaths.
District Court Judge Tierra Jones sentenced Thomas Randolph to 60 years to life in state prison for the killings of Sharon Causse Randolph and Michael Miller in 2008.
“I didn’t kill Sharon,” Thomas Randolph said, adding that he intended to appeal his conviction. “I had nothing to do with this.”
The 69-year-old man wore hearing aids and was rolled into the courtroom in a wheelchair.
Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hamner spoke before him.
“I don’t think there’s anything that I can say that compares to the actions of Mr. Randolph in this case,” he said. “The reality is his actions — back in 2008 — have rippled for year after year after year, and will continue to do so.”
Speaking about his deceased wife in present tense, Randolph began his remarks by talking about her.
“We’ve never really talked about how wonderful she is,” he said. “I don’t know if that helps; doesn’t help.”
Randolph then proceeded to bad mouth the victim’s daughter and blamed her for her mother’s death.
A jury in August found Randolph guilty of two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of his wife and Miller, who had been his handyman.
That was Thomas Randolph’s second jury trial after the Nevada Supreme Court overturned a 2017 conviction, ruling that jurors should not have heard about how similar the woman’s death was to that of his second of five previous wives.
Randolph was acquitted by a Utah jury in a 1989 murder trial for the death of Becky Randolph.
Her death was initially considered a suicide, but Randolph pleaded guilty to felony witness tampering for trying to have a friend killed after that person gave Utah police information that led to a murder charge in relation to Becky Randolph’s death.
Thomas Randolph was initially sentenced to death at the time for the deaths of Sharon Randolph and Miller, but because of his age prosecutors did not seek capital punishment at his retrial, court records show.
In the Las Vegas killings, Randolph hired Miller to kill his wife in order to collect more than $300,000 in insurance money, prosecutors have said.
Randolph then double-crossed and killed the hit man, prosecutors said.
Sharon Randolph was shot and killed after she and Thomas Randolph returned home from a date night. The suspect told police that he found her dead and then shot a man, who had been wearing a ski mask, at the home.
While Miller’s body was found next to a mask, there were no bullet holes or blood on it. Police found bags containing a change of clothes and what prosecutors said was costume jewelry.
Attorney Josh Tomsheck, who represented Randolph, said in court Thursday that his client is battling medical issues and likely doesn’t have much more time left to live.
He said the Randolph has consistently maintained his innocence and his admiration for Sharon Randolph.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.