John Gardner Pleads Guilty

John Gardner Pleads Guilty. The man accused of raping and killing San Diego area teen Chelsea King has pleaded guilty. This move by Gardner saved him from death penalty. Gardner, a registered sex offender has also confessed to raping and stabbing 14-year-old Amber Dubois in 2009. Dubios disappeared in February 2009 while walking home from school.


Here is part an article from LaJolla Light about Gardner's guilty plead and his sentencing :

A convicted sex offender pleaded guilty Friday to killing a 17-year-old Poway High School senior and a 14-year-old Escondido High School freshman, and he was expected to be sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.

John Albert Gardner III, 31, also faces an additional 33 years to life in prison for assaulting a woman Dec. 27.

Gardner, whose plea spares him from a possible death sentence, is scheduled to be sentenced June 1. His plea also bars him from filing an appeal of his conviction and sentence.

Gardner admitted attacking, raping and killing 17-year-old Chelsea King, who disappeared after going for a run Feb. 25 at Rancho Bernardo Community Park. The avid runner and straight-A student's body was discovered five days later in a shallow grave near a tributary of nearby Lake Hodges - not far from Gardner's mother's home.

The defendant admitted attacking King while she was jogging, taking her to a remote area where he raped and strangled her and buried her in a shallow grave.