Donald Phares, of Flora Vista, NM, was sentenced to 9 years in prison for killing his wife of 40 years on October 13, 2007, a sentence possible only because their daughter Amy suggested the plea agreement. He killed his wife Shan by shooting her in the back of the head with a .22 caliber gun while she prepared their breakfast. Donald has never formally admitted responsibility, something which did not sit well with District Judge Thomas Hynes.
Even while being formally sentenced to prison, the defendant appeared indifferent and didn’t address the court, but Todd Sewell, Amy’s husband, spoke on behalf of his wife."My wife is a complete wreck. She needs this to be over to get on with her life," he said. "It's just been very emotional to try to reach some understanding about the fate of her father."
"The family is torn. We have a daughter who is dealing with a dead mom and a father who is the perpetrator, as far as she is concerned," Deputy District Attorney Paul Wainwright said. "Their suggestion, with my approval, was that we reduce (prison time)."
Judge Hynes stated that he accepted the plea agreement only because the victim (and perp’s) daughter and son-in-law asked for it so they could get on with their lives.
"To come down from 15 (years) to nine seems to me to be a substantial reduction to what I would have sentenced him to," Hynes said.
Phares called 911 to report his wife’s shooting death, but according to the San Juan County Sheriff's Office, gave false information about his activities and concealed the information about his .22 caliber gun from police.
When detectives requested to test Phares for residual gun fire residue, the man said he may have gun powder on his hands because he had been firing his .22-caliber rifle earlier in the day. Detectives asked Phares where he had been firing his rifle, he led them to an area with tire tracks and boots which matched Phares’. A shallow grave was found which turned out to be his wife’s.
Because the murder case relied almost exclusively on circumstantial evidence — with no evidence of a motive — Phares may have been acquitted by a jury at trial, Chief Public Defender Christian Hatfield said, noting the man had been happily married to the victim for nearly 40 years with no history of violence. Hatfield also noted the man's extensive Vietnam military service and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
"It's an extremely anomalous in a life of loving and caring," Hatfield said of the murder. "There's a reasonable chance that a jury would come back (with a verdict) either way."
Deputy District Attorney Paul Wainwright said, "I think it was a fair ending. "What's sad is Mr. Phares showed absolutely no remorse at any of the proceedings. He didn't make an attempt at apologizing."
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That he seemed "indifferent" during the sentencing could be attributed to the fact that he still believes that he did not do it. HAD he done it, he was in a mental state associated with PTSD, which he has a history of and for which he is treated by a doctor. He would be incapable of showing remorse since he believes that he was not responsible. He went along with the plea for his daughter's sake. I believe instead of being sentenced to prison for 9 years, he should've been institutionalized at a facility that could help him with the PTSD and also his wife's death, with the possibility that IF he did it, the memory may come upon him suddenly which will definitely require additional psychiatric care.
My heart goes out to Aimee and all of her family. This is something you never even fatham happening. No matter what the outcome of what happened, something happened and Aimee no longer has a mother to get motherly advise from as her daughters grow older.
I wish everyone would stop "analyzing" what they think someone is feeling or thinking..you will never know. And that is extremely unfortunate for Aimee.
thank you for reading.
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