Defense attorney Cheryl Carpenter (left) argues a motion on behalf of Theodore Wafer (right) before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Dana Hathaway during Wafer’s sentencing Sep. 3. Wafer was sentenced to 17 to 30 years in prison for shooting and killing Renisha McBride on his front porch last November.
By BOB OLIVER
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — Theodore Wafer, the man found guilty on the charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and felony firearm for shooting and killing Renisha McBride on his porch last November, was sentenced to 17 to 30 years in prison for the crimes.
Wafer was sentenced last Wednesday by Wane County Circuit Court Judge Dana Hathaway.
Wafer, 55, shot and killed McBride, 19, with a shotgun blast through a locked screen door on the front porch of his house in the 16800 block of Outer Drive about 4:40 a.m. Nov. 2.
“This is one of the saddest cases that I have ever presided over,” Hathaway said prior to issuing the sentence. “One life is gone and another is ruined.”
Wafer was sentenced to 15 to 30 years for the murder charge, 7 to 15 years for the manslaughter charge and 2 years for felony firearm. The murder and manslaughter sentences will be served concurrently and Wafer will be eligible for parole after the minimum sentencing expires.
Defense Attorney Cheryl Carpenter pleaded for reduced sentencing due to Wafer’s age, calling 17 years in prison a “life sentence” for him, but Hathaway did not agree.
Two members of McBride’s family, her sister Jasmine McBride and father, Walter Simmons, gave victim statements to Hathaway prior to sentencing.
“For me, she (Renisha) was more than just a sister, she was my best friend,” McBride said. “Losing my sister was one of the most devastating times of my life.”
Simmons said Wafer had “ruined my family’s life” and asked Hathaway to hand down the maximum penalty possible.
Wafer also spoke prior to sentencing and apologized to McBride’s family.
“I only hope and pray that somehow you can forgive me,” Wafer said. “From my fear I caused a loss of life, I’ll carry that guilt and sorrow forever.”
He also asked for mercy from the court.
Carpenter also said an appeal of the trial has been filed by Wafer.
In a press release issued after the sentencing, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy praised the work of law enforcement and attorneys on the case.
“This is yet another case that shows the justice system at work in Wayne County — from the police investigators, the prosecutors, the jury and judge, to the family of Renisha McBride who stoically and patiently waited for justice,” Worthy said. “We must all remember that a young woman with her future ahead of her lost her life and will be gone to us forever.”
Wafer was found guilty by a jury last month following a nine-day trial that featured testimony from more than two dozen witnesses, including Wafer, who took the stand as a witness for the defense and described in his own words what occurred that night, stating he had fallen asleep in his recliner and had been awakened by a “loud banging” outside.
As the noise got progressively louder, Wafer said he first grabbed a baseball bat and then as the noise continued he feared there was more than one person outside of his house so he grabbed his shotgun.
He said he opened the front door to look outside because his peephole was broken and then something came at him from the side of the house.
“The person come around from the right of my house so fast and I raised the gun and shot,” Wafer said.
He told prosecutors, who asked why, if he was afraid, he opened the door at all, that he was afraid that whoever was outside was trying to force their way into the house.
“I didn’t want to be a victim,” he testified. “It was them or me.”
Prosecutors attacked Wafer’s story by saying it was inconsistent with the report he gave police after being taken into custody the morning of the shooting.
Assistant Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Athina Siringas said Wafer didn’t tell a 911 dispatcher he believed someone was trying to break into his house when he called following the shooting or that he didn’t tell police that he had first grabbed the baseball bat.
In her closing remarks, Carpenter said Wafer’s actions were justified and that when he was awoken that morning he was scared and searched for his cell phone but could not find it, so he retrieved the weapon for his protection.
Wafer did not have a land line and later found the phone in his jeans in the bathroom to call 911.
Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Danielle Hagaman-Clark said Wafer had other options the night of the shooting than firing through his front screen door and he that his actions were “unnecessary, unjustified and unreasonable.”
McBride had been in a single car crash on Brammell near Warren Avenue in Detroit about 1 a.m., more than three hours before making her way to Wafer’s front porch.
What occurred during the time between the crash and the shooting was not released during the trial.
A toxicology report taken during an autopsy on McBride revealed she had marijuana in her system and a blood alcohol content of 0.218 percent, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent allowable for driving in Michigan.
(Bob Oliver can be reached at [email protected].)