Alix Tichelman, the prostitute charged with killing a Google executive in a heroin-laced bender on a yacht, was sentenced on Tuesday to six years in prison by a Santa Cruz County judge.
Tichelman pleaded guilty to two felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and administering drugs, according to NBC affiliate KSBW. She could have spent a maximum 15 years in prison if she had been convicted of felony manslaughter and seven other drug-related charges.
Defense attorney Larry Biggam said Tichelman was relieved to have the court proceedings behind her and she is expected to serve only three years. She will be credited for nearly a year already served. Tichelman agreed to the plea deal in light of the evidence, he said.
"It was an accidental overdose between two consenting adults,'' he said.
Prosecutor Rafael Vazquez was not immediately available for comment.
Tichelman had been facing manslaughter charges for the death of Forrest Timothy Hayes, 51, a Google executive who died Nov. 23, 2013 from a heroin overdose on his private yacht in the Santa Cruz harbor. She had originally pleaded not guilty in July.
Police said Forrest Hayes hired the high-end prostitute several times and the two were engaged in mutual drugs and sex the night he died.
Hayes, a married father of five, kissed Tichelman before she injected him with a lethal dose of heroin, according to court documents.
Investigators said surveillance video from the boat shows Tichelman callously stepped over Hayes' body multiple times, once to finish a glass of wine, and another to pull down blinds to hide his body, before leaving without calling 911.
Many of her friends told NBC News that she was a sensitive, big-hearted dreamer, and far from a sociopath.
"She's a good person," Hennessey Shaat told NBC News.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
