Oregon Man Gets Time Served For Killing Girlfriend

Steven Wagner Nichols, 42, pled guilty Monday in Hood River County Circuit Court to two felonies: criminally negligent homicide and coercion — but a murder charge stacked against him was dismissed.

Judge John Wolf sentenced Nichols to a year and seven months in county jail. But Nichols will not serve time behind bars for those felonies, his attorney said.

Via the May 8 sentencing agreement, Nichols will get credit for 19 months served in custody, which essentially cancels out his sentence. He will, however, serve three years under post-custody supervision.

Nichols most recently lived in Portland on house arrest, leading up to the case’s resolution.

Prosecutors alleged Nichols was hiking with his girlfriend, Rhonda Casto, 23, of Portland, in March 2009 at Eagle Creek Trail west of Cascade Locks when he pushed her off a 100-foot cliff to her death. Casto was the mother of Nichols’ then-infant daughter.

Months before her death, Nichols had increased Casto’s life insurance policy to $1 million, prosecutors said.

Nichols has recently faced other criminal charges. Last November, Nichols pled guilty to two counts of sex abuse in the third degree.