Former Ms. Washington, Peggy Sue Thomas was sentenced to four years in prison for her role in Whidbey Island murder of a former colleague's husband.

Thomas, 47 years-old accepted a plea bargain in January to the crime that was related to the murder of Russ Douglas. She pleaded guilty to rendering criminal assistance in the first degree, and in exchange for a guilty plea, prosecutors recommended a four-year sentence.

The former beauty queen conspired with her then boyfriend James Huden to murder Douglas after leading him to a location on Whidbey Island. He was found shot to death in a car just a few days after Christmas in 2003. She was working at a beauty salon owned by Douglas' wife.

The sentence of Superior Court Judge Alan Hancock disappointed the victim's family member. Had she been convicted of first degree murder charge, Thomas could have faced up to 45 years in prison.

"It seems like a travesty of the basic sense of justice that she would be sentenced to less than four years in prison for the cold and premeditated act that could not have happened without her involvement," the victim's father, Jim Douglas, said in court on Friday.

"She has escaped a major-league crime for a minor-league sentence," he said.

James Huden was convicted last summer of murder and received a sentence of 80 years in prison. Thomas was not arrested and charged with murder until 2011.