Wife takes deal in husband’s death

Kim Smith

Friday, May 17, 2002 | 10:16 a.m.

A Las Vegas woman who killed her husband told District Judge Joseph Bonaventure Thursday she chose not to leave the emotionally abusive relationship because she was "blinded by love."

Sandy Cain said she shot Frank Cain in August in self-defense.

"I killed him because he was reaching for a gun and that's the truth," Cain said. "It was kill him in that moment or be killed."

Cain was scheduled to go to trial in April on an open murder charge, but chose at the last minute to enter a plea agreement. Although she did not admit her guilt, Cain acknowledged prosecutors had enough evidence to convict her of second-degree murder.

Bonaventure sentenced Cain Thursday to the 10- to 25-year sentence that was agreed upon by Chief Deputy District Attorney Frank Coumou and Deputy Public Defender Jordan Savage.

Had Cain gone to trial and been convicted of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon, she could have received a no-parole life term. If she had been convicted of second-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon, she would have received a 20- to 50-year sentence.

According to court documents, Cain met Frank Cain, 47, in an Internet chat room in 1997 while living with her first husband. She came to Las Vegas and married him in 1999, signing a 'slave-master contract' that identified her as the slave.

The marriage began falling apart, with Frank Cain running up her credit card bills and conversing with another woman on the Internet.

According to court documents, Cain told police that on the morning of her husband's death, they argued and her husband threatened her and acted as though he were reaching for one of the guns he kept underneath a couch cushion. Cain said she grabbed her 9mm Smith and Wesson and fired at least two shots.

Police say a 911 dispatcher whom Cain had called didn't hear any arguing. In addition, a forensic pathologist was to testify some of Frank's wounds were defensive wounds.

Savage told Bonaventure his client has a strong case for self-defense, but the risk was too great to take their chances in front of a jury.