Timothy Shannon sentenced in bathtub murder of his wife, LeeAnn
Ludington Daily News
July 15, 2013
No one knows yet exactly how long Timothy Shannon will serve in prison for the murder of his wife, Lee-Ann, in a bathtub inside the couple's Hart home in December.
Shannon pleaded no contest in June to her death and was sentenced Monday morning in Oceana County's circuit court.
Judge Terrence Thomas issued a sentence of 13.5 to 75 years in prison for the crime, noting it will be up to the Michigan Department of Corrections to decide when Timothy Shannon will re-enter society.
The sentencing guidelines called for a minimum of 12 years.
During the sentencing there were pleas from Lee-Ann's family calling for him to serve the maximum sentence.
Lee-Ann's mother said she hoped Timothy would meet some Christian men in prison and turn his life around.
A letter from Lee-Ann's brother was read, pleading for Timothy to be imprisoned as long as their mother is alive.
At the time of the murder, Timothy was a Hart city councilor.
Man sentenced in wife's bathtub drowning
Ex-Hart councilman killed wife Lee-Ann Shannon
WOOD TV News
Jul 15, 2013
WHITE CLOUD, Mich. (AP) - A former West Michigan city council member has been sentenced to up to 75 years in the bathtub drowning of his wife.
Timothy Shannon of Hart pleaded no contest last month in Oceana County Circuit Court to second-degree murder in the Dec. 29 death of 34-year-old Lee-Ann Shannon.
A no contest plea isn't an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing, which was held Monday.
The Ludington Daily News reports Judge Terrence Thomas issued a sentence of 13 1/2 to 75 years. Thomas says it'll be up to the Corrections Department to decide when Shannon is released from prison.
Shannon told police his wife accidentally drowned, and he tried to revive her.
He was a Hart City Council member at the time of her death
Ex-Hart city councilman sentenced in bathtub murder of wife
MLive
July 15, 2013
HART, MI – Former Hart city councilman Timothy Nathaniel Shannon is headed to prison for at least 13 ½ years and maybe as much as 75 years for the deliberate bathtub drowning of his wife, Lee-Ann Shannon.
Oceana County 27th Circuit Court Judge Terrence R. Thomas imposed that sentence Monday in Hart. Shannon, 34, pleaded no contest June 3 to second-degree unpremeditated murder.
It will be up to the Michigan Department of Corrections parole board whether Shannon serves the minimum, the maximum or something in between.
Oceana County Prosecutor Joseph Bizon asked for a minimum sentence of 20 years, which would have been at the top end of state sentencing guidelines. Those guidelines, which govern the minimum sentence, were between 12 and 20 years in the case of Shannon, who has no prior criminal record.
"Mr. Shannon is a man who took the life of the mother of his two children," Bizon said. He said the pre-sentence investigation noted that Shannon was "deceitful throughout this entire process ... He took great steps to cover up his actions," initially telling investigators his wife had died by suicide or accident while drunk. "Much of his own account of this is bogus."
In addition, Bizon said, the pre-sentence investigation showed Shannon has "little or no remorse" for his actions.
Shannon’s attorney, Douglas Springstead, disputed that, and Shannon denied it in court before sentencing. "I cried myself to sleep just about every night in jail," Shannon said.
Bizon said allowing Shannon’s second-degree murder plea, rather than going to trial to try to prove first-degree premeditated murder, was the legally correct decision.
After closely studying the evidence, Bizon said, "we came to the conclusion that there was no evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt premeditation.... It was a crime of passion or opportunity," thus second-degree murder.
The judge said he was imposing a minimum sentence closer to the low end of state guidelines -- while leaving it to the corrections department to decide whether to free Shannon that early or keep him for up to 75 years -- largely because of the high cost to taxpayers of housing a state prison inmate.
Lee-Ann Shannon, who was 34, died Dec. 29 in a bathtub in the couple's home in the 200 block of Courtland Street in the city of Hart. The death was reported initially as an accidental drowning.
When the case turned into a homicide investigation, the Hart Police Department turned it over to the Oceana County Sheriff’s Office because Tim Shannon was a city council member. He later resigned his seat on the council.
Lee-Ann Shannon’s drowning came around mid-morning of the day she was due to leave home at her husband’s insistence, to be replaced by Tim Shannon’s young lover, who actually did move in that day, according to testimony at Tim Shannon's preliminary hearing Jan. 22.
According to police testimony at that hearing, Tim Shannon told detectives he pushed his wife under water and held her there for a long time after she angrily pulled him into the tub with her and he lost his balance, hitting his head.
Bizon, in an interview with MLive and the Muskegon Chronicle after the sentencing, said that account wasn’t believable, either. He believes Shannon held his wife, whom toxicology reports showed to be highly intoxicated, under water deliberately as a "crime of opportunity."
The couple’s daughter and son, ages 3 and 4, are in the custody of Tim Shannon's parents.
Lee-Ann’s mother, Irene Chaffin of Shelby, spoke to the judge about her daughter’s relationship with Tim, and his relationship with the much younger Jamie Hathaway. The younger woman had lived in the Shannons’ home earlier for about a year after Lee-Ann invited her in when she was homeless.
"Her and Tim had what I thought was a loving marriage," Chaffin said of her daughter. "(They had) many problems, because Tim was what I thought was a very controlling young man, but they just seemed to love each other so much." She said the two met in school, at Spring Arbor College, and kept in contact for five years before Lee-Ann finally agreed to marry him.
But then, after the Shannons took in Hathaway in 2011, "a relationship developed (between Tim and Hathaway). You can imagine how heartbreaking this was for Lee-Ann," Chaffin said.
Chaffin spoke of how much she misses her daughter, whom she said was highly intelligent, well-traveled, compassionate and a committed Christian.
She said she has forgiven Shannon and hopes he puts his time in prison to good use.
The same is not true for Lee-Ann’s brother, Tom Chaffin of Dallas, Texas, or her cousin, Deborah Lariviere of the San Francisco area.
Lariviere read a statement from Thomas Chaffin and one of her own.
Both expressed anger at Shannon and said they have not forgiven him.
"May Lee-Ann rest in peace and Tim burn in hell," Lariviere said.
Timothy Nathaniel Shannon sentenced for the bathtub drowning of his wife
MLive
MLive
July 15, 2013
Man gets up to 75 years in wife's bathtub drowning
Holland Sentinel
Posted Jul 16, 2013
White Cloud — A former West Michigan city council member has been sentenced to up to 75 years in the bathtub drowning of his wife.
Timothy Shannon of Hart pleaded no contest last month in Oceana County Circuit Court to second-degree murder in the Dec. 29 death of 34-year-old Lee-Ann Shannon.
A no contest plea isn't an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing, which was held Monday.
The Ludington Daily News reports Judge Terrence Thomas issued a sentence of 13 1/2 to 75 years. Thomas says it'll be up to the Corrections Department to decide when Shannon is released from prison.
Shannon told police his wife accidentally drowned, and he tried to revive her.
He was a Hart City Council member at the time of her death.
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I received the following anonymous comment from IP address 50.105.74.98 from Muskegon Michigan, on August 15, 2013. Perhaps a relative of Timothy Shannon?
