DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. – The man convicted of shooting and killing 19-year-old Renisha McBride on his front porch in 2013 was resentenced to a 15-30 year prison sentence last Wednesday.
In 2014, Theodore Wafer was convicted of second-degree murder, felony firearms, and involuntary manslaughter for shooting McBride on the porch of his Dearborn Heights home after she pounded on his door around 4 a.m. on Nov. 2, 2013.
Wafer, now 63, opened his front door and shot McBride in the face through the screen door. He said he was startled out of his sleep by the pounding on his door and he feared for his life. A jury rejected his self-defense claim.
McBride had been in a car accident that night, and prosecutors speculated that she was likely disoriented when she began pounding on the door. She was later found to have been intoxicated at the time of her death.
During the trial in 2014, prosecutors argued that Wafer should have stayed inside and called the police when McBride came to his home.
“His actions that night were unnecessary, unjustified and unreasonable,” prosecutor Danielle Hagaman-Clark told the court on Wednesday, adding there was no evidence of an attempted break-in at the scene.
Evidence showed that McBride was not armed with any weapons and did not have any tools for breaking into a home.
Wafer appeared in the Wayne County Third Circuit Court on June 22 before Judge Dana Hathaway, who resentenced him to 15 to 30 years in prison with credit for time served.
The conviction comes with 15 to 30 years for second degree murder, seven to 15 years for statutory manslaughter and two years consecutively for felony firearm. The involuntary manslaughter charge was thrown out after the Michigan Supreme Court found that Wafer’s constitutional rights were violated when he was convicted of both second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for the same shooting.
With the manslaughter conviction dropped, he could have seen his sentence reduced to 12-20 years, however Judge Hathaway ordered Wafer to serve the exact same sentence he was originally given, resentencing him to 15 to 30 years in prison with credit for time served.
Wafer has served nearly eight years of a minimum 17 year sentence.
