Scott White, 51, pleaded guilty in January and could have been sentenced to up to life in prison. A coroner in 2017 found a number of assaults, some fatal, where the victims had been targeted because they were thought to be gay. The death of mathematician Scott Johnson was initially called a suicide, but his family pressed for further investigation. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - An Australian man was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison Tuesday for the 1988 murder of an American who fell off a Sydney cliff that was known as a gay meeting place.