Man Who Killed Teen-Age Sister Placed on Probation

A Los Angeles man who came forward after 11 years and said he killed his teen-age sister in 1974 because she may have been pregnant with his child was placed on five years’ probation today and ordered to perform community service.

Kalib Valentine, 26, of the Los Angeles suburb of Bellflower was also ordered to pay $50 in court costs and undergo evaluation to determine whether he needs alcohol, drug or mental health counseling.

“I’m not going to give you the luxury of thinking that you have paid your debt because you haven’t,” said Umatilla County Circuit Judge Robert Abrams, who could have sentenced Valentine to 20 years in prison on the first-degree manslaughter charge.

He said Valentine’s debt to society can never be paid, and ordered the man to do 240 hours’ community service.

“If I could some way see a gain in incarcerating you I would do it,” the judge added.

Valentine showed no reaction to the sentence but dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief as he left the courtroom.

Valentine, who changed his name from Michael Wilson, said he killed his sister, Karen Rochelle Wilson, in their Pendleton home. The 14-year-old girl’s death had been ruled a suicide.

He pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge after confessing during an October news conference at his lawyer’s Los Angeles office.

Valentine said he and his sister had had a yearlong incestuous relationship before she told him she thought she was pregnant. He said he put a handgun in his sister’s mouth and pulled the trigger in an effort to make her death look like suicide.

His conscience finally led him to call a hot line that offers free legal advice, and he was referred to Los Angeles lawyer Robert D. Rentzer.

Valentine returned to Pendleton, where he entered a guilty plea last month and was released on his own recognizance.

He will be allowed to fulfill his probation and community service obligations in California, Abrams said.