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Sentencing scheduled for two in murder trial
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The sentencing date for two of the four accused in the 2009 murder of landscaper Timothy Clements has been set for Nov. 1, just over two months since the alleged ringleader Pablo Maldonado, received the death penalty for his role in the murder.
Christian Perion Caldwell, 20, and Katria Luche McClain, 19, both pleaded guilty at different times in the case, their sentencing held until they testified against Maldonado.

Maldonado, Caldwell, McClain and a fourth person Brittney Michelle Beasley, 21, were all charged in the June 2009 death of Clements. A popular landscaper, Clements was Maldonado's boss.

Thinking he had large amounts of cash on him, Maldonado and the rest reportedly devised a plan to rob him which quickly turned into a plan for murder. Clements was struck several times by a baseball bat and hammer before being wrapped in a blanket and tossed into Snapping Shoals Creek, where he was found by two teenagers out fishing.

McClain, just 16 years old at the time of the killing, was not there when the murder happened, but was there the night before when the group planned it, according to her testimony during the trial of her ex-boyfriend Maldonado.

Although the teenager was supposed to help out on the morning of Clements' murder, she didn't show up. She stayed in her bed despite several visits from the three others to her home, feigning sickness.

McClain pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. The maximum time she could serve for that charge is 10 years. She has been in jail since 2009.

Caldwell took a plea deal during Maldonado's trial and also testified against his former roommate, even going so far as to act out his role in the murder, saying he stood behind the front door while Maldonado lured Clements into the house, and striking him once in the head with a baseball bat.

He was brought before the judge during a recess in Maldonado's trial on Aug. 23, and pleaded guilty to malice murder, armed robbery, false imprisonment, concealing the death of another and forgery. Caldwell pleaded guilty in order to get a life sentence; however, that plea is contingent upon him testifying against Maldonado. Caldwell could have potentially received life without parole plus life with 25 years on this case if found guilty on all charges.

Brittney Beasley also testified against Maldonado during his trial.

Frost is unsure, as of now, as to which charges Beasley may plead to. She is charged with murder, concealing the death of another, armed robbery, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, aggravated assault and theft by taking. She remains in the Newton County Jail.

Maldonado is currently serving a sentence of death, plus life, plus 25 years at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.