3 Life Sentences for Gang Members in Contra Costa Double Homicide

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA -- Three gang members have been sentenced to multiple life sentences for the murder of a man and woman in 2012.

The sentences were handed down Jan. 24 by Superior Court Judge Clare Maiers.

Sheldon Silas, 28, Reginald Whitley, 35, and Lamar Michaels, 29, were convicted of murdering Christopher Zinn, 24, and his girlfriend Brienna Dow, 21, in October 2012 after their bodies were discovered on Buchanan Road in unincorporated Antioch.

Prosecutor Melissa Smith said Zinn had been a friend of the three defendants, but was targeted after he allegedly stole guns from a Hunter's Point street gang of which Silas, Whitely and Michaels were members, and that his girlfriend was killed to prevent her from testifying against the defendants.

Maiers sentenced Silas, Whitley and Michaels to life without the possibility of parole and gave additional sentences ranging from 55 to 77 years in state prison.

A fourth defendant, Linda Chaney, 41, was sentenced to 11 years in a state prison after presenting a false ID card to jail guards when she visited Whitley, her boyfriend, in jail to sneak out paperwork revealing the name of a police informant.

Chaney, who wasn't allowed to visit with jail inmates because of a previous felony conviction, also snuck a cellphone into the jail.

Although Chaney received 11 years, she will get three years credit for time served.

Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via Shutterstock