Wife Of Ex-Texas Lawman Pleads Guilty In New York Homicides

SODUS, N.Y. (AP) — The wife of a former Texas police chief has accepted a plea deal in a western New York double homicide.

Wayne County Assistant District Attorney Christine Callanan says the plea on Tuesday by Charlene Childers reduced her second-degree murder charge to first-degree manslaughter. She'll be sentenced June 27.

Her husband, former Sunray, Texas police chief Timothy Dean, has pleaded not guilty to first- and second-degree murder charges and was expected to be tried alongside Childers next month.

Prosecutors say Dean and Childers drove to the town of Sodus in October and killed Amber Washburn and Joshua Niles. Friends and relatives say Niles had recently won custody of the two children he had with Childers.

Defense lawyer Rome Canzano says Childers' expressions of remorse were considered in the plea negotiations.