FROM: Amy Cornell, Public Information Officer (408) 792-2997   CONTACT PERSON: Joseph W. Espinola, Deputy District Attorney (408) 808-3719   For release on March 13, 2008   SANTA CLARA COUNTY MAN SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN PRISON FOR FOILED PLOT TO HAVE HIS WIFE KILLED   52-year old James Guasch was sentenced to 12 years and four months in prison after his plan to have his wife killed was disrupted. A Santa Clara County jury convicted Guasch on Monday of solicitation of murder and possession for sale of pharmaceutical drugs.   Guasch, a retired Menlo Park firefighter, solicited two undercover agents from the Santa Clara County Enforcement Team to kill his wife after being introduced to the agents by a confidential informant. He then paid the undercover officers a retainer for their services with a bottle of Oxycodone.   At the time, Guasch was in the midst of a highly contentious divorce over an estate that was worth an estimated $15 million dollars. His plan included having the undercover agents kill his wife, and then dump her body into a mineshaft in the Nevada desert.   A search of the defendant’s home revealed a substantial amount of prescription drugs, methamphetamine, ammunition, counter surveillance equipment, and video of the intended victim’s residence.   ###