Petition updateBrad King we demand JusticeThere is no greater loss than losing a child and its worse when the justice system fails you.

Donna BryanNew Port Richey, FL, United States
1 Feb 2016
The loss of a child is devastating but to lose a child and grandchild is additionally heart breaking. I have been fighting to get justice for my pregnant daughter since December 12, 2014 when the Assistant State Attorney Peter Magrino said he would not prosecute and the following day the baby killer got married to his longtime girlfriend who was the emotionless 911 caller.
The investigation by the Hernando County Sheriff's Office was screwed up from the beginning they did not follow protocol. Detective Breedlove never investigated past the 911 call that said it was an "Accidental Shooting"( I don't believe in accidental shootings when your twirling a loaded gun like a cowboy in front of children and women. Guns are not toys but weapons) Matter of fact before my daughter was even dead the detective came to the hospital to tell me my daughters gun shot point blank to the temple was an accident.
Mind you, the killer wasn't even formally interviewed till two days later. He was also on prescribed narcotics at the time of the killing, which the sheriff's office never bothered to check if he was on the prescribed dosage of Methadone, Lortabs and Sonoma as the Florida Statutes §790.155(1)(a) which states that if a firearm was used by a person under the influence of controlled substances and has caused the death or serious bodily injury of a human being, such person shall submit, upon the request of a law enforcement officer, to a test of his or her blood for the purpose of determining the presence of controlled substances therein. (I would have checked it to cover my ass in case of lawsuits later.)
When I spoke to the sheriff's office I was told "The sheriffs on the scene said he didn't appear to be high so they didn't feel the need to test him" However, they did send the killer to the hospital cause he was having chest pains. (Personally, I think it was anxiety I would have anxiety too if I just killed a pregnant woman in front of my emotionless girlfriend,her three children and the husband of the pregnant woman)
Then there is the fact as everyone knows when a spouse is killed the first one the cops investigate is the surviving spouse. Well guess what? he was never investigated. Even though prior to my daughters death- Katherine and her husband had an argument (two days before she was killed) which he had told her to pack her stuff and move out. (She had sent me text messages which I kept) Her husband had not spoken to the killer for a few years after the killer had gotten fired from where he worked with her husband. Why after so long of not being in contact with each other do they suddenly meet up to see the killer's guns and meet his new pregnant wife?
Lets not forget that in the interview with the detective the killer mentions he is friends with a Sergeant who works for the Hernando County Sheriff's office and the detective says he knows who he is and then deters the conversation not to mention that the detective had turned on the light in the interview room and it automatically started recording but he doesn't come back to the interview room for along time with the killer.
Then her husband stopped talking to me because he wanted me to stop pursuing justice for my daughter and grandson which I found extremely strange. One would think if he loved her and his child he would want justice in there death. It certainly makes him look guilty that he may have played a role in her killing and then I was told he was placing ads on single websites looking for a woman not even a month after her death. (I saw the ads)The sheriff's office didn't find this information worth investigating.
The sheriff's office said they gave a "Culpable Negligent Case to the State Attorney's Office and they refused to prosecute even after Major Terry contacted them because he had questions concerning why it was not being prosecuted.
Now, according to law, a person is guilty of manslaughter if: 1) the victim is dead and 2) that the death was caused by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of the defendant. Culpable negligence is the duty to act reasonably towards others by consciously doing an act or following a course or conduct that the defendant must have known or reasonably should have known was likely to cause death or great bodily harm. FS §782.07 or FS §784.05. This shooter's actions seem culpable to me.
Likewise, negligence is the failure to use reasonable care, which is the care that a reasonably careful person would use under like circumstances. Negligence is doing something that a reasonably careful person would not do under like circumstances or failing to do something that a reasonably careful person would do under like circumstances.
A reasonable person would not admittedly consume methadone and Lortabs then proceed to twirl a live firearm in the presence of 2 women, 3 children and another man. To be sure, any responsible person handling a gun treats every firearm as if it’s live unless and until the magazine is removed and the slide is locked clearly exposing the entire chamber. We know Dehayes had been exhibiting other firearms but we are unaware the type. The firearm that killed Katherine was a revolver which presumably has no magazine and therefore, safe handling requirements oblige ejecting the cylinder before handling it in the presence of others. Absent dismantling in this way, all firearms must be treated as live at all times.
Now, I’m no forensic scientist but, Katherine was approximately 5’3” standing and 46” seated; the bullet struck her temple at perhaps 44” height. What reasonable person would pull the trigger of a firearm at a 44” height trajectory unless he expected it to hit someone? Keep in mind there were 2 women, 3 children and 1 other man present in the home.
How does the Fl Statute 782.09: killing of unborn child due to injury of the mother not apply to this case he did shoot her and the baby did live 41 minutes and then died? The sheriff's office said that because no crime had been committed against the mother no crime has been committed against the baby. How can that be both of them are dead. So whose responsible for them being dead?
Let’s not forget, that the shooter collects firearms so he should be held to a higher standard and at the least recognize that of 10 common safe gun handling rules, he violated the top 4 as outlined by the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
Brad King says “ Mr. DeHayes took the gun out
of the holster, spun it around one or more times around his forefinger, then caught the butt of the gun in his hand and cocked it. He then was in the process of lowering the hammer, which requires putting pressure on the trigger, when the gun fired.Where the trigger is pulled intentionally,.... that is a crime, even though the person who pulled the trigger did not know, or did not intend, that a shot would be fired." Is this not what he did?
Lowering the hammering can be achieved by setting the safety without firing the pin but, before considering either of those things, a reasonable person would lower the barrel to point at the ground, confirm there is no ammunition in the weapon then release the hammer or lock the slide. Dehayes actions were the furthest thing from reasonable or safe and again, I would submit that his actions were improper, negligent and culpable. For that matter, why was the hammer cocked in the first place? This is also a fundamental violation of safe firearm handling etiquette.
In closing, my daughter and grandsons are the innocent victims of William Dehayes’s criminally negligent acts, yet he walks free while they lie dead and buried, grieved for by all who knew and loved them. Katherine and Rehlin’s rights were violated; they didn’t deserve to die and at 51 years old, young Nicholas and I are on our own with little to no income and depleted savings from paying for both funerals.
Dehayes must be held accountable for his actions in causing their deaths. Again, I implore you to help my family find justice and closure by either prosecuting Dehayes for the many crimes that he’s committed or sufficiently explain to me how seemingly identical situations that have been prosecuted somehow differ from Katherine and Rehlin’s.
I also brought to the attention of Mr. King the case of Eric Stayton,( a man who lives in Tallahassee which is approximately 3-4 hours away from Hernando) according to WCTV "Police say that Stayton was twirling a gun around. He went to re-holster the gun, it slipped out of his hand and onto a concrete floor. When the gun hit the floor, it fired, shooting Chaires (who is his sister) in the neck. She later died at the hospital." He was arrested, tried and convicted of manslaughter was sentenced to 3 years in jail and 7 years probation. Why has Dehayes been given a free pass from prosecution when he killed two people? Why is it illegal in Tallahassee to twirl a gun and kill someone but it is legal in Hernando?
I am pleading for help and have gotten no where with the Governor, Attorney General, Senators, Congresspeople, Fdle, US Attorney General, FBI and anyone I can think of . Please Help and I am open to any ideas.
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