Officer in Love Triangle Sentenced to 21 Years for Killing
A former minister and police officer was sentenced to 21 years in prison Monday for killing his lover’s husband.
A Fresno County jury had cleared Paul Hurth, 44, of murder but convicted him of manslaughter in the February shooting of car salesman Ralph Peter Gawor.
As he imposed the maximum term for voluntary manslaughter, Judge Edward Sarkisian Jr. said Hurth had violated his trust as a police officer.
“This case is all about trust,” Sarkisian said. “In the unlawful, intentional killing of Ralph Gawor it is clear the defendant betrayed his wife, his fellow officers, the citizens of this community and betrayed his God.”
The four-year police officer and department chaplain claimed that he killed Gawor, 43, in self-defense with his service weapon after going to Gawor’s house to tell him of the affair he had been having with Nancy Gawor.
Hurth, former pastor at Heritage Baptist Church, was arrested more than a week after the killing and fired from the force.
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