COURT SENTENCING UPDATE: Andrew Ronald Schultz was sentenced to life in prison WITH the possibility of parole.He will not eligible for parole for at least 25 years. The judge found it particularly disturbing that Ronnie had murdered Tonya in front of the kids, and that her blood was on their clothing. She also found it disturbing that he had shot her a second time, with almost 5 minutes passing between the first and second shot, with the second shot being to the back of Tonya's head. She called it an execution, and said that it was a "tragedy", and she sentenced him to life in prison, but WITH the possibility of parole.
In her opening remarks as she began court this morning, Judge Kathleen Beckstead said that she realized this case had alot of emotion from both sides of the crime. She also mentioned that she was aware of a website being created on behalf of Tonya, and that her office had received a large amount of letters from that website. She stated that it was "highly improper" for her to be influenced in any way by this website, and she had advised her office to intercept all of the letters, and box them to be filed away. She said that she had not seen this website or any of the letters that had come from visitors to the website, and she would not be influenced by them because it was improper. She was however, given a printed copy of this website as it was entered into evidence.
The Webmaster of Justice For Tonya.com would like to thank all of the visitors of the site who sent the letter to Judge Beckstead, regardless of whether she saw them or not. At the very least she knew they were there, and she knew about the website and she knew people cared about Tonya and they wanted to see proper justice served. I, the Webmaster, do not feel that Ronnie should ever be eligible for parole, and I do not agree with the states attorney's office for even considering bargaining or cutting deals to first degree premeditated murderers. I feel the state let us down by not seeking life without parole. And the states attorneys office was on the local news recently, and they were pontificating about how they were getting tough on gun crimes in our county. Sadly, they dropped the ball on this case, and Ronnie will be eligible for parole. It is sad when someone executes his wife in front of their two children with two shotgun blasts, confesses what he did, pleads guilty to first degree murder, and our states attorneys won't put him away for the rest of his life, but rather they offer him a deal. If they had enough evidence to make him plead guilty to first degree premeditated murder, they should have had enough evidence to put him in jail for life without parole. He got what the law allows. What he deserves, the law doesn't allow.
This site will remain, as a lasting tribute to Tonya, and I will soon open a photo gallery of pictures and images from Tonya's life. Again, thanks to everyone who sent the letter to the judge. It is greatly appreciated.
CLICK HERE for the local news story from today's sentencing.
