I’m paid to come up with words and the only one I could come up with was “wow.”
Just “wow.”
Circuit Judge Michelle Naberhaus deserves a ton of credit for doing something in the evening of Jan. 30 that no one in the courtroom really expected — something I’d never seen.
Presiding over the plea deal and sentencing of former Brevard County Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Lawson who says he “accidentally” shot and kiled roommate and fellow deputy Austin Walsh in 2022, Naberhaus said she couldn’t sentence Lawson under the plea deal accord.
Under the deal worked out between Lawson’s attorney Alan Landman and former State Attorney Phil Archer, Lawson pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Jan. 15. The charge carries up to 30 years in prison. But the deal would’ve capped any prison sentence at seven years. Even with such a sweet deal in place, Landman was seeking a downward departure from that, meaning no incarceration time for Lawson. So, a hearing ensued, that ran over two days and had to be concluded on Jan. 30.
After listening to testimony from witnesses, family and even Lawson himself as well as numerous victim impact statements, the courtroom fell silent as the clock ticked close to 7 p.m. Friday as Naberhaus addressed the courtroom with her decision.
“I’m not inclined to sentence under the agreement that was agreed upon,” she said. “The defendant may withdraw his plea.”
I turned to a very experienced high-ranking law enforcement officer sitting next to me in the packed courtroom and whispered “wow.” He smiled, nodded and repeated the only word that seemed to fit: “wow.”
It is extremely rare for a judge to reject or go outside the parameters of a plea agreement. It would have been very easy for her to impose a sentence under seven years and be done with the case. No one would have faulted her. After all, the deal had been agreed upon by the state and the defendant.
It was a bold and rare decision, one that a court administrator couldn’t quite remember the last time it occurred in a Brevard courtroom.
Kudos also to State Attorney Will Scheiner, who inherited the plea deal and thought it was inappropriate to renege, even though it was clear he and lead prosecutor Stewart Stone felt Lawson deserved more than the seven year cap on the deal.
“I support the judge’s decision,” he said outside the courtroom explaining that as hearings like this play out, certain mitigating factors and certain aggravating factors become clearer. Scheiner said the more Lawson spoke, the more aggravating the factors became.
No one believes Lawson meant to kill his roommate that night but that sort of egregious, reckless behavior needs to held accountable. As someone said during victim impact statements, “it was negligence of the highest order.”
The Shooting
Shortly after midnight on Dec. 3, 2022, during a break from playing the online video game ‘Call of Duty’, Walsh crossed the kitchen and living room of the apartment he shared with Lawson and another deputy who was at work and stood in Lawson’s bedroom doorway.
They goofed around and teased each other. But Lawson wanted to keep playing and told Walsh to go back to his room and get back into the game.
That was when Lawson pointed a new personal handgun he had purchased and showed to Walsh earlier in the day at Walsh and joked “get back on the game. You’re gonna get shot in the game or I’m gonna shoot you.”
Then he pulled the trigger and the gun “dry fired” meaning no bullet was fired. Then for reasons only Lawson can know, he racked the slide of his gun and fired again. This time a bullet was discharged, shooting Walsh in the face below his eye.
Lawson called 911 then went outside with his hands raised to wait for police.
One of the first things he said to Palm Bay Lt. Lewis Jones, then a sergeant, was that he was “a deputy but that he was going to lose his job,” Jones testified at the second hearing.
Victim blaming
Lawson did himself no favors testifying on both Jan. 15 and Jan. 30. While saying he was there to “honor” Austin and take responsibility for his actions, he did no such thing.
FDLE agent Scott Ratliff, the lead investigator in the case, interviewed Lawson several hours after the shooting at the Palm Bay Police Department. He testified that during the interview, Lawson wouldn’t admit that he was being reckless by pulling the trigger on what Lawson said he believed to be an unloaded gun.
“He wouldn’t acknowledge it (being reckless),” Ratliff said. “He kept deflecting the question.”
During the Jan. 15 hearing, Lawson came across very sincere and apologetic until he insinuated that perhaps Walsh had loaded the gun while Lawson was showing it to him earlier in the day. He also testified that pointing their guns at each other and pulling the trigger on an unloaded gun was something they did to one another.
Walsh’s family also insisted that Lawson was exaggerating the friendship between the two. The victim’s mother, Cheryl Walsh, said she had never heard Lawson’s name until her son had been shot and killed.
Victim impact
A few of Walsh’s co-workers gave statements along with his uncle, brother and mother detailing what Walsh’s homicide has done to their lives. In addition, several letters were read aloud in court and the judge received a few dozen more.
It was very powerful.
“The defendant said he was there (in court accepting a plea) to honor Austin,” Walsh’s uncle, Donald Garrett said. “Where is the honor in victim blaming? The dead can’t speak in their own defense. It’s disgusting and your apology rings hollow.”
The victim’s mother echoed those sentiments during her lengthy statement in which she described wanting to climb onto the gurney alongside her son and be cremated along with him when it happened and how she would go and lay down on the floor where her son was killed.
“I died that day,” she said. “I don’t care or accept his apology.”
She urged Judge Naberhaus not to accept the sentencing guidelines of the plea agreement saying Lawson’s training in handguns and safety magnifies his culpability.”
Contact Torres at 321-242-3684 or at jtorres@floridatoday.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter @johnalbertorres or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FTjohntorres.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Judge stuns courtroom with rare rejection of Brevard deputy plea deal
Reporting by John A. Torres, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
