Dear State Attorney Bill Gladsen:

I am writing to you to ask you to please prosecute the man who killed my daughter and grandson.
On July 26, 2014, my 25-year-old daughter Katherine Bryan Hoover and her husband went to visit her husband's friend, 35-year-old William Dehayes, at his home in Brooksville, Florida. During their visit, Dehayes decided to show off his gun collection. His subsequent recklessly negligent actions would prove fatal to my daughter, as well as to her unborn son, Rehlin. My devastated family and I are seeking justice on their behalf.

Here's what happened that horrible day. When Dehayes began showing off his gun collection, he checked the first several guns to ensure they weren't loaded. But when he pulled out his .22 caliber revolver, he neither checked to see if the safety was on nor if it was loaded--an act of complete and utter negligence. While showing off this unchecked .22 caliber revolver to his visitors, Dehayes began twirling the revolver in his hand like a gunslinger, in an incredibly cavalier manner ("kind of like a cowboy would," he later told police). He was pointing the revolver in Katherine's direction. The gun was cocked and loaded. As Dehayes twirled it on his finger, it discharged, shooting Katherine in the head.

Katherine was rushed to the hospital, where she died a few hours later. Doctors delivered her unborn son, Rehlin, via emergency C-section, but as he was only at 5 months' gestation, he lived a mere 41 minutes before dying, as well.

My family and I are bereft at these senseless, tragic, and completely preventable losses.

I rushed to the hospital to be at Katherine's side, and I cannot tell you how traumatic the entire experience was. I've never seen so much blood before in my life as I did that night. Watching my baby girl leave this world and remembering the joy of when she came into this world, I thought I was going to die right there beside her. I begged and pleaded with the doctors to save her, even though I knew in my head that they couldn't do anything for her. My heart just couldn't accept it.

Katherine also left behind a beautiful little boy, Nicholas, who was 6 when his mother and brother were killed. He has had to endure a lifetime without his loving, devoted mother--all because of Dehayes' negligence.

Making matters worse, because investigators say that Katherine's death was due to an "accidental shooting," they have declined to charge Dehayes, even though drugs (Methadone, Soma, and Lortabs) located at his house were consumed by Dehayes before killing Katherine--and even though Dehayes admitted in his interview with the Hernando County Detective Breedlove of his negligence and consumption of these drugs approximately 30 minutes before the shooting.

During his interview with the detective, he told Breedlove:
"I haven’t slept in three days trying to figure out how the hell [the gun] went off. I don’t know. I mean them damn guns. The shotgun goes off when it wants to. I almost blew my damn head off twice."

Excuse me, but shotguns don't go off when they "want" to. Shotguns go off when their owners are negligent. Full stop.

Despite this damning evidence of repeated negligence, and even though there were children in Dehayes' home at the time of the shooting and who were in the immediate area of the shooting and could have been shot, officials not only refused to arrest or charge him: they were going to give him his guns back, without so much as a slap on the wrist if my attorney did not contact them and advise them it is still evidence to a crime.

I am shocked, appalled, and devastated at how the judicial system has failed us. In fact, how is it that Dehayes' right to own and play recklessly with his guns trumps my daughter's right to life? My daughter's life, and that of her baby’s life matter to all that loved them. How can this be? You kill two people and get away with it?

Then on March 17, 2016 Sheriff's deputies were called to a mobile home park in Ridge Manor. Dehayes was drunk on Crown Royale and beer shooting his gun off in a mobile home park with an autistic 12-year-old child. He was arrested for shooting his gun off in public while intoxicated and received 60 days in jail. This further shows he should not have guns and be held accountable for killing my daughter and grandson.

I have tried many times to get Peter Magrino to file charges. I even had a private detective file a report after investigating my daughter's case saying additional things should have been done on the case. I had a law professor who is now using my daughters' case to teach culpable negligence as he said the burden of proof was all there for prosecution. I have had many former prosecutors and attorneys review my daughter's case and all have said it should be prosecuted for Negligent Homicide and or Manslaughter. One attorney did all the research about the medications he had consumed and submitted it to Magrino so he could see Dehayes was impaired at the time of the shooting.

I asked to have a grand jury hear the case to decide if charges should be filed and Magrino said No., I asked that he get a subpoena to obtain Dehayes's blood work from the hospital he was taken to for an anxiety attack, and he said, "No". I firmly believe the blood evidence would have shown toxicology levels of the drugs and alcohol he may have consumed. I filed a complaint with the Florida Bar against Magrino for not doing his job and Magrino said if I ever did that again he would sue me. He also said my daughter's case will never go before a court in the state of Florida.

I also had a meeting with Brad King before he retired and the meeting was unsuccessful as he didn’t listen and never had anyone else review the case besides being rude and arrogant. I have talked to many people who have not gotten justice under the Brad King regime. It is funny how in his jurisdiction what Dehayes did to my daughter was not a crime. However, in other parts of the state, it is a crime, and people are prosecuted for it.

I beg you to help us secure justice for Katherine and Rehlin. Please prosecute Dehayes for involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, and/or other appropriate charges, and give him a trial before a jury of his peers. As his pattern of recklessness demonstrates, he is a menace to society. He deserves to be prosecuted for his unconscionable actions that proved fatal to Katherine and Rehlin. Please protect other people before he kills someone else.
Thank You Sincerely,
Donna Bryan