LOS ANGELES -- Rock drummer Jim Gordon, who played with the Everly Brothers and guitarist Eric Clapton, has been sentenced to 16 years to life in prison for the stabbing and beating death of his mother.
Gordon, 38, who was diagnosed as an acute paranoid schizophrenic who heard voices, confessed the murder to police.
He was sentenced Tuesday by Superior Judge James Albracht who convicted him in May in a non-jury trial.
Osa Marie Gordon, 71, was found stabbed numerous times and beaten with a hammer at her North Hollywood triplex June 3, 1983.
Psychiatrists testified that Gordon heard a group of voices that eventually merged into what he believed was the voice of his mother. Gordon began to feel the voice was trying to take control of his life, defense attorney Scott Furstman said.
Despite the psychiatrists' diagnosis, Gordon could not be found innocent by reason of insanity under current insanity laws, Judge Albracht said.
