Family: ‘No Remorse’ Shown by Deputy Convicted in Fatal Bar Shooting

Shortly after a second-degree murder verdict was delivered Thursday morning in the month-long trial of a former Riverside County sheriff’s deputy, the victim’s family said they believe the jury got it right—though that won’t bring their loved one back.

A jury deliberated about a day and a half before finding Dayle William Long, 44, guilty of one count of second-degree murder and a sentence enhancement that he discharged a firearm causing the Dec. 21, 2011 death of 36-year-old Samuel Vanettes.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Angel Bermudez had tasked the jury with deciding whether Long was guilty or not guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter in the fatal encounter at Spelly’s Pub & Grille in Murrieta.

After the verdict was read, several of Vanettes’ family members and friends were ushered into the third-floor office of the Riverside County District Attorney at Southwest Justice Center near Murrieta. There, they spoke with jurors.

According to Sam Vanettes’ father, Ron Vanettes, jurors told them they might have considered the lesser conviction of voluntary manslaughter had they seen any remorse from Long on the stand.

“If he would have shown a little remorse, a little crying, said ‘I was drunk, please forgive me,’ they said they would have considered that,” Vanettes said.

Jurors declined to comment as they walked to the elevator. Two women jurors—there was an equal mix of females and males on the jury—were in tears. Not one of them was smiling.

Deputy District Attorney Burke Strunsky, who prosecuted the case, said the conviction carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 40 years to life in prison—15 for second-degree murder and 25 for using the gun to commit the act.

“Justice was served,” Strunsky said.

From the witness stand, Long had claimed he shot his gun in self-defense because Vanettes and his friends were coming at him and he felt his life was threatened.

Long—at the time a 10-year veteran of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department— had played darts with Vanettes earlier in the evening. But the two later became embroiled in an argument that had started over a conversation about a street in Orange County, witnesses said.

At about 8 p.m. that night, Murrieta police responded to Spelly's, 40675 Murrieta Hot Springs Road, regarding a call of a man with a gun. When officers arrived they contacted Long, who identified himself as an off-duty deputy. Officers found Vanettes inside, dead from gunshot wounds. It was determined Long shot Vanettes several times, killing him.

Long was arrested that night, and had been held in lieu of $1 million bail since.

His trial began Nov. 12, nearly two years after the shooting that happened four days before Christmas 2011.

“The jury treated him fairly and they treated him in the same way they would have treated anybody that was charged with murder,” Strunsky said Thursday. “They took a careful deliberation process and found that the victim in this case was not attacking or threatening him in any way that would have required him to take out his .45 caliber pistol, firing it six times and hitting him four times, so I think the jury got it.”

Vanettes’ sister, April Reilly, who was with Vanettes at Spelly’s the night he was killed, expressed a mix of emotions Thursday.

“I’m happy, but I’m really sad for (Long’s) family,” said Reilly, who testified in the trial. “I think it is tragic all around— one life lost, another one ruined. I am really really sad for his family, but I am happy for ours because we got justice for Sam.”

She said testifying was one of the “most difficult” things she has ever had to do.

Long’s public defense team, who had argued that the ex-deputy had feared for his life that night and exhausted all other law enforcement tactics before drawing his gun, expressed disappointment in the verdict.

“We thought the evidence of provocation and fear was clear and overwhelming,” said Deputy Public Defender Jeff Zimel. “We think that the jury got it wrong in this case. We respect what they do and we appreciate the time that they gave us and their attention but I think in the end they made the wrong decision.”

Deputy Public Defender Leah Kisner, who sat by Long’s side throughout the trial, said “at most, it should have been a voluntary manslaughter conviction.” She added: “It is always unfortunate when somebody passes away. Nobody wins. It’s a sad day.”

Long is due back Jan. 30, 2014 at Southwest Justice Center for his sentencing hearing, according to Strunsky.

“He will be held in a local jail until then,” Strunsky said. “He is facing a mandatory 40 to years to life...he is in his early 40s, which means he won’t be eligible for parole until his 80s.”

Vanettes’ family and friends who had rushed to the courthouse Thursday morning after getting notification that the verdict was in planned to gather at his mother and stepfather’s Winchester home for a bittersweet celebration that the trial was behind them.

"I am glad it is over, I don’t think we could have gone on much longer," said Barb Tolton, Vanettes' mother.

But moving on without Sam in their lives will never get easier, family said.

“He is going to jail for a long time which is good, but as a family, it really doesn’t make any difference whether he spends 10 years or a 100 years (in prison), we can’t get Sam back,” his father said. “There is never any closure. It is always going to seem like yesterday—we’ll get through it but we are not going to get over it.”