A man was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for the 1983 murder of a Richmond woman after advances in DNA technology led police to him.
Sherill Smothers was sentenced Friday in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez by Judge John Kennedy.
Smothers was found guilty Sept. 20 for the first-degree murder of 25-year-old Marsha Carter, who was living with her four children when the killing occurred, according to police and prosecutors.
Police found a pool of blood in Carter's bed at her home on Santa Clara Street on Dec. 7, 1983, and discovered her body ten days later in the trunk of her car in West Sacramento.
Police reopened the case in 2008 and a grand jury returned an indictment against Smothers in 2016 and police arrested him.
