Chatsworth Man Victim : Hammer-Wielding Killer Sentenced to 12 Years

A 20-year-old transient who bludgeoned to death a Chatsworth man with a claw hammer, flashlight and liquor bottle after the man picked him up at a Valley bus stop last August was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in state prison.

Sean Mooneyham, who had a lengthy criminal record as a juvenile, surrendered to police two weeks after the slaying, after confessing to a Baptist minister who operates a Van Nuys shelter for runaway youth.

Mooneyham’s fingerprints were found in a two-bedroom town house rented by the victim, 53-year-old Jack D. Shroyer. Detectives matched the fingerprints in the town house with those on file and then secured a warrant for Mooneyham’s arrest.

Confessed to Brother

The day after the slaying, Mooneyham told an older brother he had killed Shroyer after the man made a homosexual advance to him, according to a county Probation Department report.

Mooneyham later told a probation officer that Shroyer, a computer salesman, drove by a bus stop where Mooneyham was seated and offered him a “shave and shower.”

Mooneyham said he got into the car with Shroyer. They stopped at a liquor store and bought a six-pack of beer and a fifth of whiskey before returning to Shroyer’s residence, the report said.

According to the report, Mooneyham said he punched Shroyer in the nose after the man made a sexual advance. When Shroyer chased him, Mooneyham is reported as saying, he found a claw hammer, flashlight and liquor bottle and beat him.

“I was drunk, really drunk, blacking out of my head,” Mooneyham told a probation officer.

Victim Also Drunk

A coroner’s report indicated that the victim was also highly intoxicated. He had a .27 blood-alcohol level at the time of death, almost three times the level considered legally intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle.

After the Aug. 24 slaying, Mooneyham moved to Sycamore House, a temporary home for runaway youth in Hollywood, and told officials he wanted to confess to a crime. Mooneyham was told to call the Rev. Roger Burt, a Van Nuys minister who operates a Valley shelter for boys and serves as a chaplain for the Glendale Police Department.

Mooneyham “wanted to face up to the music and confess to police,” Burt said.

‘Born-Again Christian’

The assailant also told Burt that he had undergone “a religious experience” and had become a born-again Christian, said Burt.

“I felt that there was a degree of real truth to what he was saying,” Burt said. “I felt it was genuine.”

Burt then drove Mooneyham to the Devonshire division police station, where he surrendered to authorities.

Reduced Charge

Mooneyham was originally charged with murder, but in an agreement with the district attorney he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Edward Gorman sentenced Mooneyham to 11 years for the slaying and one year for the use of a deadly weapon.

The 12-year sentence was the maximum term allowable under the law, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Lucienne A. Coleman.

Mooneyham will be eligible for parole after serving half the term, said Coleman.