(WWJ/AP) The Michigan Supreme Court is taking another look at the case of a Dearborn Heights man who was sentenced to at least 17 years in prison for killing an unarmed woman on his porch back in 2013.
The issue for the court is whether Theodore "Ted" Wafer's rights against double jeopardy were violated when he was convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of 19-year-old Renisha McBride. Wafer's attorney argues that murder and manslaughter contradict each other because one charge requires malice, while the other does not.
If the Supreme Court agrees with Wafer, he likely would be eligible for a new sentence, because the sentencing guidelines for murder were enhanced by the manslaughter conviction. It's not clear how much lighter that sentence might be.
Wafer, now 61 years old, never denied that he shot McBride in the face through a screen door when she knocked on his door early in the morning of Nov. 2, 2013. He claimed, however, that he acted in self defense.
Wafer, who was 55 at the time, had been sleeping in a recliner and said he couldn’t find his phone to call police when he awoke to an “unbelievable” pounding on his door. At his trial, Wafer testified that he opened his front door and noticed the screen door had been tampered with, then opened the front door further before a figure emerged quickly from the side of the house. He said he raised his shotgun and, in fear for his life, he fired.
McBride was drunk and had crashed her car that night, about a half-mile away from Wafer’s home, according to authorities. Experts said at trial that she was two to eight feet away from the shotgun when it was discharged, but more likely at the short end of that range.
While Wafer is white and McBride was black, defense attorneys said race wasn’t a factor; that Wafer was just a homeowner who was aware of crime in a neighborhood that borders Detroit and wanted to protect himself. Wafer said it was only after he discharged the weapon that he realized the person on his porch was a woman.
Prosecutors countered that Wafer should have called 911, and that he acted with negligence, thoughtlessly taking the life of “a young girl looking for help.”
Wafer, a former airport maintenance worker, was sentenced to 15-30 years for second degree murder, and an additional two years on a felony firearm charge. He remains behind bars at the Alger Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula.