Akron Beacon Journal (OH)
Author: Gina Mace, Special to the Beacon Journal
Dateline: MEDINA
The muffled sobs of David Heinricht's grieving family were the only sounds heard for about 50 seconds Friday in the Medina County courtroom of Judge James L. Kimbler.
Heinricht's father, Guy Argenziano, asked Kimbler for the moment of silence to honor his son during the sentencing hearing of his killer, Shaun Cleland.
Cleland, 25, pleaded guilty in April to aggravated murder, kidnapping and aggravated burglary in an arrangement that dismissed a death-penalty specification.
On Friday, the Brunswick man sat next to his lawyers, on the edge of his seat. He spoke once, at the end of the hearing.
"I'm truly sorry for the death of this young man," Cleland said.
Cleland's lawyer, Frank C. Gasper of Cleveland, said his client's crime was one of passion -- the desperate act of a man whose marriage was falling apart -- not cold and calculated. He stopped short of calling it a "love triangle," but said that Cleland's wife was an "essential part" of the murder because she was living with Heinricht.
Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman said Cleland planned the murder before he boarded a plane in Hawaii, where he was stationed with the Army.
Holman said Cleland typed a fake suicide note before he left the islands, even forging Heinricht's name. Cleland was carrying rope and a pellet gun when he scaled the Brunswick apartment building and broke into Heinricht's apartment.
Holman said Cleland tied the rope around a post that separates two rooms, then around Heinricht's neck, strangling him. Cleland then rigged the scene to look like a suicide, the prosecutor said.
Cleland spoke to his girlfriend by phone before and after killing Heinricht, Holman said.
Heinricht's mother, Gloria Heinricht Glancy, said her son was just starting his life.
"I was and am still proud of who I was watching David become," Glancy told Kimbler. "The beautiful child I loved and nurtured was becoming a beautiful man. He could have been whatever he chose."
Glancy called Cleland a jealous, controlling young man.
"My son is gone for what -- the will of a brutal, selfish coward of a man who decided to take my child's life," she said. "He checked plane departures, purchased tickets and rented a car. He had David's suicide note ready but didn't have enough respect to find out how to spell David's last name or that 'Dave,' as Mr. Cleland forged, always signs his name David."
Cleland was at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on Oct. 2 waiting for a flight back to Hawaii when Argenziano heard his son's name and apartment address over a police scanner around 2:30 a.m.
Argenziano, wearing a choker made from wooden, cylindrical beads that his son was wearing when he was killed, described for the court -- with his voice cracking -- how he went to his son's apartment and was greeted by a Brunswick police sergeant, who told him his son was dead.
''His body was only 10 feet from me, but I couldn't see him," Argenziano said. "Three police officers had to walk me -- almost carry me downstairs -- so I could deliver the news to our family. David's body laid there for 16 hours. It was then that I realized I would never laugh with him, hold him or hug him ever again."
Argenziano asked those in the courtroom to sit in silence for 50 seconds while they looked at a picture of Heinricht.
``I chose 50 seconds because that's how long it takes to strangle a person to death," he said. "I would like everyone to look at the pictures and think about the last 50 seconds of David's life -- what he felt, what he saw, what he heard, and what he thought."
Kimbler sentenced Cleland to 25 years to life in prison for aggravated murder and three years each for kidnapping and aggravated burglary. He ordered that the three-year sentences run at the same time, but follow the longer sentence. Cleland will be eligible for parole in 28 years.
"The court believes that people can be redeemed," Kimbler said. "I hope at some point Mr. Cleland understands the agony he has caused other people."
Copyright (c) 2006 Akron Beacon Journal
