ALAMEDA COUNTY D.A., PAMELA PRICE, ESTIMATES OVER 100 YEAR PRISON SENTENCE IF KILLIAN IS CONVICTED; SHE DOES NOT SIGNAL PROSECUTION FOR LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE OR DEATH PENALTY IN THIS CASE
SUSPECT’S SOCIAL MEDIA PORTRAYED HIM AS LOVING FATHER AND DAD
By Larry Freeman
Photos from online sources in public domain
The outward signs, at least those posted on social media as Facebook and LinkedIn by alleged murderer Shane Killian of Alameda, were anything but consistent or indicative of those of a person who would slay his closest family members in what Alameda Police, Alameda City and The Alameda County D.A’s office have labeled an incident of deplorable and extreme “domestic violence.”
Loving family photos with children and friends show him to be a caring and nurturing father with a reverence for God. An undated anniversary post to his wife reads: “Happy anniversary my love. It was by the grace of God that I found you, by His grace that we have two beautiful children, and I hope by His grace that I will share this life for many more years to come.”
In this case, his vicious and treacherous act sinks to the order of the worst kind as this purportedly loving, sanctimonious husband, father and family man had a deep, dark side and went on to take the lives of his wife, two young children and mother and father in law.
Three innocent victims perished at the scene, the Killian household on the 400 Block of Kitty Hawk Road, with one more at a nearby neighbor’s in Alameda on June 10th.
They were 36 year old Brenda Natalie Morales, also known as Nathalie Killian, William Killian, one of two sons, 56 year old Marta Morales Diaz, the mother in law, and 70 year old Miguel Carcamo, the father in law.
The youngest of the family. Wesley James Killian,16 months old, died in an undisclosed hospital on July 15th, just five days after the act of lethal horror and one which APD Chief Nishant Joshi termed as committed by “a coward.”
A fatally wounded Mr. Carcamo was able to find his way to a neighbor’s house where he reported the horror before passing away from the gunshot wounds.
The crime scene was but a stone’s throw from The Alameda Little League field, a place where six year old William, in an Alameda Little League A’s team uniform, played ball, and the scene of a photo posted on Killian’s Facebook page of the boy, the mother and the man who would take the lives of those whom he professed to love.
In an instance that counters the oft-stated narrative that “more guns make us safer,” a D.A.’s Office Press Release said that Killian possessed an assault weapon and what was termed “an unconventional pistol,” the weapon used for the multiple slayings.
Alameda County D.A. Pamela Price took note of that idea saying in a July 15 Press Release that this awful nature of horrific killings as this that are “exacerbated with deadly consequences when there are guns in the home.”
No one in that household, at that time and on that day was better off with weapons right at hand for a person who cold bloodedly grabbed one, turned on his family, and took away the futures of five innocent victims.
Murder is extremely rare in Alameda with the APD’s Crime Graphics page showing only four “homicides” in more than five years. Only this one is designated as a “homicide” with the other three, two in 2022 and one in 2023 being designated as “attempted murder.”
Neither APD nor the D.A.’s office have provided any information about Killian’s motive, but a KRON TV article contained a quote from a co-worker that said that Killian did not get along well with Mr. Carcamo, and that the alleged killer may have harbored resentments about his two in-laws moving into the house.
National statistics on what are often termed as Intimate Partner Homicides, (IPH) — a narrower term than “domestic violence” as used to describe this incident by The D.A.’s Office — vary depending on the source and the time period of the study.
Generally, murders of a spouse, without other family members included, is somewhere between 8.8% on the lower end and as much as 21.5%, based on a 2202 study.
More contemporary studies narrow their overall focus on female victims, not just those who are victims of IPH.
That said, the numbers show, across the board, that males are much more likely than females to be the perpetrators of a wide variety of domestic violence incidents, or IPH’s, as in this case.
Killian’s alleged murder of his own children puts the case into an even more ruthless, hard-hearted and treacherous category as a 2005 US Department Of Justice Study reported that of 9,102 murder victims for the year 2002, “just 5.5% were sons and daughters killed by a parent.”
WILL KILLIAN GET LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE OR THE DEATH PENALTY IF CONVICTED?
California, which has not actually executed a prisoner on death row since 2006, still has a capital punishment law on the books so prosecutors can, but generally don’t pursue that punishment option. It also has another law that provides for Life Without Parole (LWOP)
District Attorney Price signaled that she is not likely to charge under either penalty scenario in this case saying in the press release that “If convicted and sentenced of all charges, Shane Parrish Killian could face more than 100 years in prison.”
As the suspect is 54 years old, that long of a term, if fully served, stands as largely symbolic.
Indeed, while capital punishment remains an option, it is not customary for prosecutors to seek a death penalty convictions as California juries issued only 16 death penalty convictions from 2018 -2022, with a total of 106 such sentences from 2012-2022.
A thin majority of California voters gave the death penalty an indirect boost in 2016 by passing a ballot initiative (Prop 66) to expedite the time frame from a death penalty conviction to the carrying out of the execution.
In the face of that, Governor Newsom signed an executive order in 2019 putting a moratorium on any further executions in the state, so the death penalty as an option exists in a conflicted environment.
Even if Alameda DA Pamela Price were to seek the death penalty in this instance, it would go against her avowed policies and beliefs and The D.A.’s Office announced that “If convicted and sentenced of all charges, Shane Parrish Killian could face more than 100 years in prison,” signifying that they will not seek the death penalty in this case.
California is one of 27 states with a death penalty law still on the books, but rarely has a case in California resulted in a jury returning a death sentence. From 2018-2022 only 16 convicts have been subjected to capital punishment.ca
State practice and policy also steer away from actual imposition of those sentenced to death, as California’s last execution took place in 2006, and an planned execution for 2010 was stayed by the courts who have determined that California’s would be a largely symbolic gesture for the time being.
The DA’s Office did not particularize how it came to the determination that Killian could face over 100 years in state prison and did not reference California Penal Code Section 190.2 which provides for prosecution under “special circumstances” for particularly shocking and heinous murders.
Standard, first degree murder convictions in California carry a 25years to life sentence, with the possibility of parole.
It may be that Price’s statement regarding his prospective 100 +year prison term –issued before the death of baby Wesley– is largely based on those four killings, but the press release was far from clear on its projected sentencing calculus.
The Press Release states that “ the defendant, Killian, is charged with four counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, corporal injury to a relationship partner, elder or dependent adult abuse, infliction of injury, possession of an assault weapon, and possession of an unconventional pistol.”
The “Special Circumstances” provision, whether in the context of the death penalty or not, provides prosecutors with the option to ultimately increase the severity of sentencing and punishment of convicted murderers in cruel and extreme cases if the evidence involves what the law calls “aggravating factors.”
One of the 22 such factors involves “killings wherein ‘the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity.’ As used in this section, the phrase ‘especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity’ means a conscienceless or pitiless crime that is unnecessarily torturous to the victim.”
Whether or not this mass killing that took five lives through an in home shooting rampage rises to that level in the D.A.’s mind is not clear from the Press Release.
Price states that “This is an unimaginable act of violence that leaves us all heartbroken for this family and for community members traumatized by this in the City of Alameda,” and she refers to “domestic violence” in general as an “insidious problem in our society.”
The special circumstances law also provides for the enhancement of Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentencing, an alternative to pursuing the death penalty in heinous cases.
However, such cases are but a fraction when it comes to implementing that law.
Just over 5% of convicted killers in California, numbering about 5,000 out of over 95,000 are currently serving LWOP in state prisons.
LWOP sentencing has come under close scrutiny by criminal justice reform advocates as sentencing and incarceration under the special circumstances law disproportionately impacts peoples of color
A California Senate Bill designed to allow LWOP convicts to appeal their sentences to Life With Possibility Of Parole passed in committee, but was been placed in the “inactive file” in Sept. of 2023.
Whatever charging decisions may finally be made in light of this fifth, tragic death of a baby, The D.A. said in her statement that, “My office stands ready to seek justice on behalf of the victims and their loved ones.”
What the final outcome will be for alleged murderer Shane Killian and what “justice” will look like for him and impacted family members, friends and the community at large remains to be seen.
ALAMEDA LITTLE LEAGUE PROVIDES GO FUND ME PAGE FOR THE DECEASED CHILDREN’S REMAINING FAMILY
To contribute, visit the following link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-honor-our-loved-ones?lang=es_US&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link
