Shoving death nets probation
A Las Vegas chiropractor won’t spend a day behind bars for shoving an older man to his death two years ago.
Stephen Shaw, 38, stood in a packed courtroom Friday and received probation for causing 60-year-old Lawrence Weiss to fall and suffer fatal head injuries on March 11, 2005.
“The sentence contained absolutely no penalty whatsoever,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens said after the hearing. “There was no fine, there was no restitution, there was no jail time.”
In imposing the sentence, District Judge Donald Mosley said both the victim and the defendant exercised poor judgment on the day of the altercation at Fabulous Freddy’s car wash and gas station at Fort Apache Road and Charleston Boulevard.
The judge, who received hundreds of letters in connection with the case, ruled that Shaw must spend five years on probation and complete an impulse control program.
“All he has to do for what he did is go to class,” Owens said.
The sentence outraged Weiss’ family and friends, and one relative said the Las Vegas community should be outraged, too.
“Now you’ve told your community that this is acceptable behavior,” said Idaho resident Bob Edwards, the victim’s brother-in-law. “The consequence is so minor in relationship to the crime.”
Defense attorney Pete Christiansen disagreed with those who said Shaw is receiving no punishment for his actions.
“He’s a felon,” the lawyer said. “He can’t vote. He can’t sit on a jury. He can’t own a gun. He can’t run for office.”
Shaw, who has been free on bail since the start of the case, pleaded guilty in March to involuntary manslaughter. He entered a type of guilty plea that required him to admit only that prosecutors could prove their case against him.
Shaw originally faced a charge of second-degree murder, but Mosley dismissed the charge in November 2005.
The judge said prosecutors had no evidence indicating that Shaw intended to kill Weiss, a retired record company executive.
The reduced charge carried a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Probation officials prepared a report for the judge that recommended a 12- to 30-month term.
Letters sent to Mosley expressed a split of opinions about the case. Large numbers of supporters for the victim and for the defendant came to Friday’s hearing. Numerous people were turned away from the courtroom after the 48 spectator seats filled up.
Mosley said he didn’t plan to take a head count of each side’s backers.
“A sentencing is not a contest to see who has the most friends,” he said.
According to a police report, the Fabulous Freddy’s incident began as Shaw’s wife, Raquel, was getting a smog check for her sport utility vehicle at the gas station. Her two young daughters were sitting in the back seat.
Witnesses told police that Weiss had an argument with the woman and believed she had cut him off on the road before entering the gas station. She called her husband after Weiss walked away to get his car washed.
“I received a phone call on that day, and my wife was crying and screaming for help,” Shaw told Mosley.
Shaw said his wife directed him to Weiss, who was pacing back and forth while looking at her and the children.
“I pushed him,” the defendant said. “I just wanted to get him away from my family.”
Shaw told Mosley that he acted out of fear and never dreamed the shove would end the man’s life.
“I truly thought my family was in danger that day, and I’m sorry,” he said, sobbing.
Christiansen said Weiss confronted Shaw’s wife as she sat in her vehicle with the driver’s door ajar. Weiss opened the door, leaned in and began yelling obscenities at her in front of her children, the defense attorney said.
“The deceased approached and accosted a woman and two small children,” Christiansen argued.
He said Shaw “doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.”
“I implore the court to give this man probation,” Christiansen said. “I’ve known him 26 years.”
The lawyer told Mosley that Shaw was scared at the time of the altercation, “and with all due respect, you would have been scared, too.”
In 1990, Mosley was cited for battery after a scuffle with a motorist on U.S. Highway 6 near Ely. The judge claimed self-defense, and the misdemeanor was dismissed the next year.
“The fact of the matter is he attacked me, and I dropped him on his butt in the street,” Mosley said at the time of the incident.
At Friday’s hearing, Owens said Weiss was walking away when a witness heard Shaw say, “Pick on someone your own size.” Shaw then immediately pushed the victim, the prosecutor said.
Weiss suffered multiple skull fractures and died two days later at University Medical Center.
As the injured victim lay on the ground at Fabulous Freddy’s, a witness has testified, Shaw stood over him and said, “I will (expletive) you up. Don’t (expletive) with me.” Shaw then walked away.
Records show that Shaw is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 195 pounds, while Weiss was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 150 pounds.
Weiss’ wife, sister and three adult children were allowed to make “victim-impact statements” at Shaw’s sentencing hearing.
His wife, Sheri, said she and her husband would have celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this November.
“He was a wonderful husband and father,” she said. “I love him very much, and I miss him with all my heart.”
She said her husband had persuaded her to make Las Vegas the couple’s permanent residence a few months before his death. Their youngest child had just left for college.
“We were quite excited about this new phase of our lives that was just beginning,” she said.
The woman cried into a tissue as she described seeing her injured husband at the hospital before his death. She said she hardly recognized him.
Teresa Paczkowski, one of the victim’s two daughters, said she learned of her father’s life-threatening injuries while on her honeymoon in Italy. The couple immediately flew home.
“He died just hours before we landed,” she said.
Paczkowski said she has known Weiss since she was 3. He married her mother when she was 6, then legally adopted her.
Paczkowski said Shaw “took the life of a brilliant, generous, kind-hearted man.”
Weiss’ daughter Lauren described him as her best friend. She said he visited Maryland a few weeks before his death and watched her teach.
The victim’s son, Michael, called his father “the most amazing person” he has ever known. He said his father had a reputation for being calm.
“It’s really frustrating for me to sit here and realize my dad’s not here to defend himself,” the young man said.
Sheri Weiss is pursuing a civil case against the Shaws and Fabulous Freddy’s. A trial is scheduled for Oct. 30 before District Judge Michael Villani.
