Man Gets Life In Prison For Stabbing Deaths

Man gets life in prison

for stabbing deaths

YAKIMA

Herbert A. ``Chief'' Rice Jr. was sentenced yesterday to two consecutive life prison terms for his role in the stabbing deaths of an elderly Yakima Valley couple.

Rice, 19, tearfully apologized to the family of his victims and was met with their anger.

Last month, a Yakima County Superior Court jury convicted Rice of one count of aggravated first-degree murder for killing Mike Nickoloff and one count of accomplice to aggravated first-degree murder for the slaying of his wife, Dorothy Nickoloff. The couple were stabbed dozens of times during a January 1988 robbery that netted Rice and another man two television sets and a pack of cigarettes.

In August, Russell Duane McNeil pleaded guilty to aggravated first-degree murder for killing Dorothy Nickoloff and being an accomplice to aggravated murder for helping to kill Mike Nickoloff. McNeil also was sentenced to life in prison.