Photographer: Michael Armstrong, Homer News Wesley Shandy talks with his lawyer, Bill Taylor, during a break at his sentencing hearing Friday afternoon at the Homer District Courthouse.

A Homer jury last September found Shandy guilty of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and felony driving under the influence. Shandy had pleaded no contest before the trial to tampering with evidence for trying to get witnesses to say Herndon drove the four-wheeler.

Hopwood sentenced Shandy to 16 years for manslaughter and another three years for witness tampering, to be served consecutively. Shandy also got five years for felony DUI, with two years suspended, to be served at the same time as the other sentences. Shandy was initially arrested after the accident for violating probation, and has been in prison since November 2005. He could get credit for time served, and if he behaves in prison, could get a good-time reduction of up to six years and four months.

Shandy caused Herndon's death when he drove drunk on a four-wheeler with Herndon. Herndon fell off the four-wheeler into the Ninilchik River as Shandy drove on a trail and over a breakwater. Shandy tried to search for Herndon without success. Rescuers eventually found her face down in the river, and she died two hours later.

Under presumptive sentencing laws, because Shandy had three prior felony convictions, including the murder of a drug dealer in Washington in 1986, he faced from 15 to 20 years in prison on the manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges, three to five years on the witness tampering charge and another three to five years on the DUI charge. The manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges were merged for the purpose of sentencing.

Shandy's attorney, Bill Taylor, pleaded for less than the presumptive minimum, asking for 15 years total.

Assistant Kenai District Attorney Jean Seaton asked for a total sentence of 22 years.

In her victim impact statement, Herndon's mother, Charlene Paight, not only spoke of the loss of her daughter, but pleaded for leniency in Shandy's sentence.

"Roxie was the joy of my life. I loved her more than anything else in my life," Paight said. "I miss her captivating laughter. I miss her arms around my neck," she added.

Photographer: Michael Armstrong, Homer News Charlene Paight, the mother of Roxanne Herndon, makes a statement during the sentencing of Wesley Shandy, the man convicted of killing her daughter.

Before she died, Herndon said Shandy had told her of his past, Paight said.

"I believe that Wes had changed his life," she said.

Herndon died on the day she and Shandy had announced their engagement. They had been celebrating before driving off that night for a four-wheeler ride. Shandy had a .11 blood-alcohol level within four hours of the accident, although his lawyer tried to argue in trial that when the incident happened his actual level of intoxication was .07. A condition of parole on a second-degree theft conviction was that he not drink alcohol.

Paight said she considered the Shandys part of her family, and that they had asked that charges not be filed in Herndon's death.

"I believe with all my heart that what happened was an accident, and that you would not put Roxie in harm's way," Paight said, looking at Shandy. "I will always think of you as my son and as a member of my family."

Shandy's step-mother, Jean Shandy, also made a statement, saying that her son had been a good member of the Ninilchik community.

Seaton said she appreciated what Paight said and her and the Shandys' forgiveness of Wesley Shandy.

"I'm sure that's very healing for them, but what would we tell the parents of the next person who Mr. Shandy kills because he has throughout his adult life exhibited no regard for the safety or lives of other people?" Seaton said.

Seaton laid out in detail Shandy's criminal history, going back to a juvenile conviction in 1983 for possession of stolen property. In 1988 he was convicted of second-degree robbery.

In 1989, Shandy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for killing Charles Wood III in Redmond, Wash. Wood died of suffocation after he was beaten in the head with a wooden mallet and his mouth bound with duct tape.

After serving his murder sentence, Shandy came to Alaska. Seaton said his criminal history continued, with convictions for domestic-violence assault, shoplifting and two DUIs. At the time of Herndon's death, Shandy was on parole for an Anchorage theft charge in which he defrauded unemployment for over $5,000.

In his sentencing comments, Hopwood cited Shandy's criminal history.

"They are reflective of assaultive conduct over a long period of time, or what I would I would characterize as a gross disregard for the safety of other people," the judge said.

"I consider Mr. Shandy's rehabilitation potential to be low," he added. "There have been attempts at rehabilitation during numerous criminal proceedings... and yet, here he is again."

Hopwood disagreed that Herndon's death was an accident.

"Just fate, just bad luck, just an accident -- it's not that," he said. "Mr. Shandy's own behavior caused these things. That's why Roxie Herndon is dead."

Addressing Shandy directly, Hopwood urged him to turn his life around. Another major criminal conviction would likely result in Shandy being put in prison for the rest of his life.

"You don't have to live a life in the criminal justice system," Hopwood said. "I just hope that you make decisions in the future that are more thoughtful."

"This kind of a case is one where nobody wins," Hopwood concluded. "Now you have your own family, and Ms. Herndon's family, terribly affected by this. ... Their pleas to the court, while heard, didn't result in much to their satisfaction, and so they're left with nothing except you're in jail and Ms. Herndon is dead."

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.