Woman Sentenced In Fatal Push

ASTORIA, Ore. - She had not pushed her boyfriend over a 320-foot cliff into the Pacific Ocean more than a year ago, Linda Jean Stangel said yesterday at her sentencing.

Stangel, 23, of Walker, Minn., also said her three confessions were coerced by police.

But Circuit Judge Paula Brownhill sentenced Stangel to more than six years in prison for shoving David Wahl, 27, of Tualatin, off a cliff at Ecola State Park on Nov. 12, 1995.

"You know I had nothing to do with David's death," Stangel told Wahl's family in the courtroom yesterday. "I think you know that deep down."

A jury convicted her of second-degree manslaughter Jan. 16.

At first, she told authorities she had waited in a van while Wahl took a walk and, when he didn't return, drove back to the couple's Tualatin home.