A recap of the Brian T. Shaw murder case

About Shaw

Brian T. Shaw was a senior at Syracuse University enrolled through University College and a resident of Syracuse. He was an SU cheerleader and member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He had a daughter, Essence, with Chiarra Seals. Essence was 4 years old at the time of Seals’ death and Shaw’s arrest.

The day of the arrest

Shaw was taken to the Syracuse Police station for questioning on the evening of March 23, 2005 after a string of evidence led detectives to believe he had been involved in the killing of Seals. After several hours of interrogation, Shaw gave an oral confession to the killing and was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

Syracuse Police Chief Gary Miguel said officers were called to the home of Seals at 160 Jasper St. the afternoon of March 23, 2005 when a neighbor called to report a suspicious vehicle parked in the home’s driveway. But Thomas Seals, Chiarra Seals’ great uncle, said the neighbor called the police when she saw that the door to Chiarra’s home appeared to have been forced open. This was later confirmed by the testimony of police officers who were at the home that day. When the officers arrived at the scene, they found Seals’ house empty except for her 17-month-old son, Omari, and Essence.

Essence told the officers that her ‘daddy,’ whom she referred to as Brian, had come to the house and had a fight with Seals in Seals’ bedroom. She then said Brian left the house carrying Seals’ body wrapped in a bed sheet. Michael Bates, the Syracuse Police officer who spoke with Essence, testified in October that the girl told him that ‘Daddy killed Mommy.’

After asking for Essence’s help to find a photograph of Shaw, Syracuse Police came across Seals’ cell phone with the name ‘Brian’ in the contacts list. They also found a photograph of Shaw and Essence with a caption that credited one of Shaw’s fraternity brothers as the photographer.

Syracuse Police contacted Shaw’s friend and told him they wanted to speak to Shaw. The friend later called Shaw and told him the police were looking for him. Shaw then contacted the police himself and was taken to the station for questioning minutes later.

The charges

Shaw’s arraignment took place on March 25, 2005, where he was formally charged with second-degree murder. He pled not guilty.

During June 2005, Shaw’s case was heard by a grand jury, which determined an endangerment of a child charge should be added to his second-degree murder charge. The grand jury’s reasoning behind this was that both Omari and Essence were present at the time of Seals’ killing. Shaw was arraigned for a second time on June 23 and pled not guilty to both charges.

The pretrial hearings

During a series of pretrial hearings that took place throughout the summer and fall, Shaw’s defense attorney, Tom Ryan, pushed for Shaw’s oral confession to police the night he was arrested to be stricken from the record. Ryan argued that Shaw’s Miranda rights were violated during his interrogation because Shaw had claimed they were not read to him until after questioning. Ryan also said he would seek to reduce Shaw’s charge to manslaughter.

Pat Quinn, the chief assistant district attorney for Onondaga County, who is prosecuting the case against Shaw, called several Syracuse Police officers and detectives to testify about the night of Shaw’s interrogation. Shaw himself was also called to the stand to share his side of the night’s events.

The testimony of the police and Shaw varied greatly, with the officers and detectives saying that Shaw’s Miranda rights were read to him once he was brought to the station. A few of the officers also said that Shaw often appeared cocky and uncooperative during the interrogation. They said Shaw finally confessed to killing Seals after several hours.

Shaw said in his testimony that he was often treated rudely by the Syracuse Police officers and detectives. He said that he was consistently accused of killing Seals without any chance to object and that he was not read his rights until the interrogation was complete and he was arrested.

The judge’s decision

Judge Joseph E. Fahey, who is presiding over Shaw’s case, took several weeks following the commencement of the pretrial to make a decision about the legality of Shaw’s oral confession as evidence in court. In a written statement to Quinn and Ryan, Fahey said the confession could be used during the trial because he decided to take the word of the seven officers who testified over Shaw’s.

The next step

Jury selection for Shaw’s murder trial will take place on Jan. 30, with the first hearing beginning the following day. The trial is expected to take a week. If convicted of murder, Shaw could receive between 22 years to life in prison. If convicted of manslaughter, he will only receive between 12.5 and 25 years in prison.

Published on January 25, 2006 at 12:00 pm