The case of The People of the State of New York v. Brian T. Shaw came full-circle Monday morning when Judge Joseph E. Fahey sentenced former Syracuse University student Brian T. Shaw to 21 years in prison after being convicted of first-degree manslaughter for the death of Chiarra Seals, and one year for endangering the welfare of a child.

Monday was Shaw’s 24th birthday, and with the two charges he was convicted of, he will be released from prison when he is about 46 years old.

Shaw was arrested and charged with the killing of Seals, the mother of his daughter Essence, on March 23, 2005. His trial began on Jan. 31, 2006, and lasted until Feb. 9, when the jury reached its decision.

Sentencing was originally scheduled for March 1, but was adjourned because Defense Attorney Thomas Ryan had an independent source conducting a pre-sentencing report for the court.

The second scheduled sentencing was March 22, but again, Ryan asked for a later date because it was the day before the one-year anniversary of Seals’ death, and Ryan didn’t want to cause any additional anguish to both the Seals and Shaw families.

‘I think that it’s a relief for both families that this is over now,’ Ryan said after the sentencing. ‘It’s been over a year now.’

At around 10 a.m., Fahey began the sentencing proceedings in front of a packed courtroom. The proceedings were brief and consisted of statements from Assistant District Attorney Michael Spano; Seals’ aunt, Michelle Lewis; Ryan and Shaw before Fahey made his decision.

Shaw’s statement caused the most disturbance in the courtroom, when he got down on his knees and addressed Seals’ family, begging them for forgiveness.

‘Please forgive me,’ he said, sobbing. ‘I did not try to bring this about. It was and truly is an accident.’

Fahey ordered Shaw to stop speaking to Seals’ family twice during Shaw’s statement, when Spano objected, saying that it was inappropriate of Shaw to direct his comments away from the judge. After being reprimanded, Shaw seemed to compose himself.

Shaw said he knew Seals and he were not the best of friends, and they both did things to hurt each other, but he feels great remorse for the loss of her life.

‘Omari (Seals’ son from another relationship) and Essence will never have their mother. I know I am at fault to some degree,’ Shaw said. ‘I hate myself more than anything. I feel like a failure.’

Shaw’s statement was cut short by Fahey during his second address to Seals’ family.

‘Sorry is not enough, but it is all I can offer you,’ Shaw said.

Spano’s statement was the first and longest of those who spoke.

He said he put Essence on the witness list during the trial, but didn’t call her to the stand because he didn’t want to cause her more pain by bringing back the events of March 23.

However, he said he wished he had put Essence on the stand because the jury would have known more of what happened in Seals’ Jasper Street apartment.

‘I struggled – I struggled through this trial,’ Spano said.

Spano then read Essence’s testimony to the Syracuse Police Department, recounting how she remembered the altercation between Shaw and Seals.

Essence said she was in the living room while Seals and Shaw were in Seals’ bedroom.

Spano said she told the investigators that ‘Mommy was sleeping. Mommy was laying down on the floor.’ And when Spano said the investigators asked Essence if Seals woke up, she said, ‘No, she died.’

Spano said he went to visit with Essence in preparation for the trial, adding that when he asked her about Shaw, she said ‘Brian killed Mommy.’

‘The only things he remembers are the things he chooses to remember,’ Spano said.

He recalled how during Shaw’s testimony, Shaw didn’t remember what happened to Seals once the two started arguing. Spano added that Shaw said he didn’t remember where he put the body while he went to class and sent text messages to women on his cell phone.

Shaw said he didn’t know what he was doing when he put Seals’ body into a suitcase and took it to his best friend’s house, Spano said. However, Spano added he thinks Shaw had to have known that the next morning was a garbage pick-up day near his best friend’s house.

‘(The jury) gave him leniency for a callous and inhumane act,’ Spano said. ‘But now he should get no more mercy, no more leniency and a minute under 25 years would be inappropriate.’

Ryan used his statement to argue Shaw’s character.

He said Shaw did try to connect with Seals’ family, but she was uninterested in opening up her life to him.

Ryan added Shaw does not have any prior criminal record, and was a student who worked hard at school in an attempt to overcome his upbringing and succeed in life.

He said Shaw would help anyone who needed a hand, and that Shaw is very much against violence directed toward women.

Ryan said the District Attorney’s office claims that Shaw lied on the stand, but he concluded from the jury’s verdict that they claim Shaw didn’t lie.

Lewis, who spoke on behalf of the Seals family, read a letter the family composed. Lewis said she and Seals’ family didn’t get a chance to say goodbye and they would never get that chance.

She told the story of how a few weeks after Seals’ death, Essence was lying in bed with Lewis and she told Lewis about the situation between Seals and Shaw.

‘My daddy lied to me,’ Lewis said Essence told her. ‘He told me he didn’t do anything and he lied to me.’

Lewis said Essence cries for no reason sometimes, and is suddenly sad too. Lewis said she doesn’t know what Seals used to do to comfort Essence, and nothing can bring her back.

‘(Seals) loved her children,’ Lewis said. ‘They heard her screams. Brian Shaw did that to them.’

She said Shaw doesn’t love his daughter, because if he did, he never would have put Seals’ body in a suitcase.

Lewis said Shaw was not very well-known to Seals’ family until after she was killed, and that he was not a good father to Essence. She said Essence doesn’t even call Shaw her father and he was not there to work and provide for her.

Lewis said she and Seals’ family think that when Shaw was helping Seals move into her Jasper Street apartment, he was beginning to think about how he was going to kill her. She said Shaw was a selfish murderer who would kill again if he were set free.

Published on April 3, 2006 at 12:00 pm