Man who killed MCC member gets 6 years, members react
BY NEAL PUTNAM
Some members of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) reacted with surprise and disappointment Sunday when they learned about the 6-year prison term handed down Feb. 24 for the man who, in 2009, killed Vance Shazier, an MCC member who was often described as “beloved.”
Because Thomas Lee Daniel received credits of 1,269 days in jail and in a mental hospital, his remaining sentence is approximately 2 ½ years. As a result, he will be paroled in 2014.
Daniel, now 40, pleaded guilty Dec. 19 to voluntary manslaughter in the beating death of Shazier, 67, who gave Daniel a place to stay in his downtown residential hotel room because Daniel was homeless. A murder charge was dropped.
“Vance was the most gentle, loving and generous person. He wouldn’t hurt a soul,” said MCC member Patti Kennedy. “That man was so sweet. Everybody loved Vance.”
Deputy District Attorney Leonard Trinh asked San Diego Superior Court Judge John Einhorn to impose the maximum 11 years in prison, while Daniel’s attorney, Zaki Zehawi, asked for his immediate release with credit for time served with probation.
The judge turned down both sides’ requests.
Einhorn disagreed with the defense that tried to prove Shazier may have died due to heart and kidney disease. The judge described the Jan. 14, 2009, slaying of Shazier as a “tragic senseless death,” but also agreed with the defense that Daniel suffered from untreated schizophrenia.
The judge noted that Daniel had injured eight people in the past before killing Shazier and this was the “logical” outcome. Without anti-psychotic medication, Daniel is violent, Einhorn said, and “a danger to the community and society.”
Zehawi told the judge Daniel is “a remarkable human being” after being treated in a state mental hospital. Einhorn said Daniel will continue to receive medication in prison.
The unanswered question is whether Daniel will take his medication after his parole or will he become homeless again and re-offend.
The prosecutor told the judge that members of MCC described Shazier as “a gentle man who was willing to help someone in a rough spot.”
Marinda Parson, a certified legal intern with the public defender’s office, told the judge Shazier’s death “was really an accident.” She said Shazier had “a short relationship” with Daniel and that “Mr. Shazier attacked Mr. Daniel.”
Parson submitted several hundred pages of Shazier’s medical records including a statement from Dr. Henry Bonnell that said there was “a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the cause of death was coronary artery disease.”
A second doctor said he found the cause of death to be uncertain. But a deputy medical examiner for San Diego County testified Shazier died from blunt force trauma to the head and not from a heart attack or natural causes.
Shazier was on a kidney transplant list, but Shazier told a doctor he felt there may be others who needed a kidney transplant before him.
Mark, an MCC member, said he was disgusted by Daniel’s defense, saying it amounted to an idea that “because Vance was sick, he deserved to die.”
“He was too frail. He couldn’t kill a fly. He had a cane or a walker, but he always made it to church,” said Mark.
Eileen, another MCC member, said it was troubling that Shazier befriended Daniel “to make a difference in his life” and “had his life cut short by the very person he befriended.”
Daniel spoke briefly before being sentenced. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I feel bad about it. I’ve learned something from what happened,” he said.
Daniel’s statement to police was included in his probation report. “He was on the bed when I kicked him. I threw the first punch. I didn’t think he hit me back or tried to hit me back,” said Daniel in 2009.
Shazier, who was gay, met Daniel at a homeless shelter in 2008. He was unaware that Daniel was convicted of three unrelated misdemeanor battery convictions involving strangers at stores who were attacked randomly. The probation report says Daniel’s parents were also assaulted.
Because the crime was a violent felony, Daniel will have to serve 85 percent of his remaining 921-day sentence. He will be paroled after he serves two years and 52 days. He was fined $424.
“We still miss Vance very much … his sweet presence, his big heart and his ready smile,” said Rev. Dan Koeshall, senior pastor at MCC. “We know he is at peace.”
