The Region - News from May 17, 1985
State corrections officials recommended that Cabazon Indians business administrator John Philip Nichols serve four years in prison, rather than receive probation, for having solicited two murders, Nichols’ lawyer, Gary Scherotter, said. The murders did not take place, Indio police said, because the people Nichols commissioned to murder Lydia Tapia and Junior Rodriguez of Coachella Valley told police about the offer and Nichols was arrested Jan. 16 at an Indio motel. He pleaded no contest Jan. 22 to two counts of soliciting a felony, and remains in jail in lieu of $500,000 bond. Superior Court Judge Noah Ned Jamin sent Nichols to the California Institution for Men at Chino for mental and physical evaluation before sentencing, which is scheduled for May 28.
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