Killer of Gay Couple Gets 29 Years, More

Associated Press/March 28, 2003

Redding, Calif. -- A white supremacist who admitted killing a gay couple was sentenced Thursday to 29 years to life in prison. James Tyler Williams, 32, will serve the sentence after he completes a 21-year federal sentence for fire bombing three synagogues and an abortion clinic.

Williams, 32, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in the shotgun slaying of civic activists Gary Matson, 50, and Winfield Mowder, 40. The two were killed while sleeping at their home in July 1999.

Williams' older brother, Matthew, committed suicide in jail last November while awaiting trial for the murders. The younger Williams pleaded guilty to the killings in February.

The two were arrested in Yuba City six days after the killings while attempting to pick up a package they had ordered with one of the victims' credit cards.

A month before, the brothers set fire to the synagogues and an abortion clinic in suburban Sacramento. Both entered guilty pleas in that case and were sentenced to federal prison in November 2001.