Man Gets 3-Year Sentence for Slaying of Thrift Store Owner : Courts: Supporters of Charles W. Bothwell are shocked. Records say his boss had a history of abusing people who worked for him.

A popular, soft-spoken handyman who fatally shot his boss at a Ventura thrift store was sentenced to three years in prison Friday after the judge rejected a plea bargain that had called for probation because of the victim’s history of abusing people under his control.

Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch said Charles W. Bothwell, 23, had already been shown extraordinary leniency by prosecutors when he was allowed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter instead of murder in the Sept. 5 slaying of Robert Allen Foster, 41, of El Rio.

“This case is closer to murder than it is to manslaughter,” Storch said.

Although prosecutors purposely fashioned the charges in a way to allow Bothwell to get probation--ordinarily not possible in a crime that involves a gun--the judge said he would not go along with that.

“The victim in this case was cruel and despised by all those who came in contact with him, but this defendant cannot, with the sanction of this court, set himself up as the jury, the judge and the executioner,” Storch said.

The decision to impose a three-year prison sentence stunned the dozens of Bothwell supporters in the courtroom, and many of them were in tears following the hearing.

But the judge’s ruling was in line with the request of Foster’s widow, who said she was abused by her husband for 20 years but wanted Bothwell punished as an example to her two young sons.

“My husband was very abusive, but not to my kids,” Patricia Foster, 43, told Storch. “I want them to have respect for the justice system, and if they see the man who killed their father get slapped on the wrist, I’m afraid it’s going to change their whole way of thinking.”

Storch agreed to delay Bothwell’s surrender to custody until Jan. 3. The defendant left the courtroom without speaking to reporters, but in a letter to Storch, he said he felt he had no choice but to kill Foster.

“But in no way am I proud of the fact that I took a life,” Bothwell wrote. “I do know that what I did was wrong. . . .I never did it to be a hero, and I shudder at all of the people who say they wish they would have done it too.”

Foster ran a cult-like operation in which he terrorized the members to keep them from leaving, and sexually abused women and children over a number of years, according to court records. Bothwell and his two young children were among several people who lived with Foster and worked at the three Ventura County businesses he operated.

A pre-sentencing report on the case chronicled numerous instances when Foster physically or sexually abused those who lived and worked for him, often in front of others.

When one member tried to leave the group, Foster beat him and confiscated the seizure medication needed by the man’s wife, the report said. The wife and her baby later died during childbirth when she had an epileptic seizure.

Foster’s widow told the probation officer she was relieved her husband was dead, and prior to his slaying she often hoped he would be killed in an accident. She said she wanted to divorce him, but was afraid to.

The probation officer said she could not find anyone who had anything bad to say about Bothwell. Supporters at the various court hearings described him as a man without enemies who should be thanked for what he did.

Bothwell shot Foster six times in the head at point-blank range at the Ventura Starvation Center, a thrift store at 2280 E. Main St. in Ventura.

After the shooting, Bothwell told the other thrift store workers to let Foster die. He then leaned over the body and said, “If you’re not dead, I’m going to beat you to death,” according to court records.

Bothwell waited for police to arrive after the shooting and immediately admitted his guilt, saying he acted after learning that Foster had sexually abused two teen-age girls for several years.

He said he feared that his own daughter would someday be molested by Foster if something wasn’t done to stop him.

Prosecutors initially filed a murder charge against Bothwell, but reduced it to manslaughter after investigating the circumstances surrounding the slaying. Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris said at the time that a major consideration in reducing the charge was the fact that “there aren’t too many people as bad” as Foster.

In court Friday, Kossoris argued that probation, to include a one-year jail term, was appropriate punishment for Bothwell. Kossoris said this was the most unusual homicide he has seen in his 26 years as a prosecutor.

Deputy Public Defender Susan R. Olson said Bothwell had been promised probation when he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, prompting Storch to ask the defendant if he wanted to withdraw the plea since the promise would not be kept.

Bothwell declined.

Storch said he chose the minimum possible prison sentence because Bothwell has no prior criminal record, pleaded guilty early in the court proceedings, is not likely to re-offend, and was a victim of ongoing abuse from Foster.

Bothwell will probably be released from prison after serving 18 months. He will then be placed on probation for as long as three years.