CLEARFIELD – A Luthersburg man recently found guilty of involuntary manslaughter was in Clearfield County Court Monday afternoon to be sentenced.
Brian Lee Schaffer, 44, 173 Luthersburg Rockton Rd., Luthersburg, had originally also been charged with murder and aiding suicide. A jury found him not guilty of these charges after his trial in March.
The charges stem from an incident in DuBois on Jan. 2, 2015 when the victim shot herself with Schaffer’s weapon. Schaffer told police they had been doing methamphetamine for three or four days prior to the shooting.
President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman sentenced Schaffer to 24 months to five years in state prison for involuntary manslaughter and 24 months to 10 years for delivery of a controlled substance. The second sentence will run consecutive to the first sentence giving him a total of four to 15 years in state prison.
Ammerman commented that the standard range for sentencing on this offense was “pathetic” considering what happened and the high level of recklessness involved. The minimum sentence even in the aggregated range was only 14 months, he explained. Ammerman stated that he sentenced Schaffer outside the range because he didn’t think it was adequate, adding that he felt this sentence was still not sufficient for this case.
He noted that the victim had been doing drugs for days, had no sleep, had other health problems and a past history of suicide attempts. He called this a “recipe for disaster” and said he didn’t understand why Schaffer went out to his vehicle to bring a gun into the situation. Schaffer held the gun to his own head before handing it to the victim.
Ammerman went on to say that he couldn’t disagree with the verdict because there was not enough evidence to find Schaffer guilty on the other charges. For more information on the trial, click here.
Schaffer was also in court to be sentenced on two drug cases for which he had signed plea agreements. The agreement was for a six-month sentence on each case, but this was rejected by the court. Schaffer declined an offer of a 16-month sentence on each case and withdrew his pleas in both cases. In these cases, he is accused of selling methamphetamine to an informant in February of 2015.