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FARMINGTON — Attorneys say a Bountiful woman wouldn't be going to prison and the man she was living with wouldn't be dead if it hadn't been for alcohol abuse.
"Had Michael or Shannon not been drinking … none of us would be here. None of this would have happened," defense attorney Markley Arrington said during a sentencing hearing Monday.
Shannon Ryan Sander, 46, had been living with 52-year-old Michael Dunn after she found herself homeless, Arrington said. In early 2012, what friend's called a "tumultuous relationship" full of heavy drinking and mutual abuse boiled over, and Sander delivered a single, fatal blow, stabbing Dunn between two ribs.
An autopsy found Dunn had a blood-alcohol level of 0.23 at the time of his death. Sander's blood-alcohol level was 0.27.
"I am in my own prison daily. I live with the pain of losing my best friend and my extended family," Sander told 2nd District Court Judge David Connors, apologizing to Dunn's family.
"This was an unecessary and unintentional tragedy," Sander said.
Sander, originally charged with murder, a first-degree felony, pleaded guilty in May to second-degree felony manslaughter. She was sentenced Monday to one-to-15 years in prison, with no recommendation whether credit should be given for time served.
"That doesn't mean I think progress can't be made or that you haven't made progress," Connors told Sander, noting that he simply saw no reason to deviate from the recommended sentence.
Had Michael or Shannon not been drinking … none of us would be here. None of this would have happened.
–Markley Arrington, defense attorney
Police said Sander was at Dunn's Bountiful home, 2520 S. 500 West, on Feb. 21, 2012. The couple had been drinking and arguing throughout the day. Around 11 p.m., Sander took a kitchen knife and stabbed Dunn in the chest. Police said Sander then went to a neighbor's home and told him enough to prompt him to call 911.
Dunn was found unresponsive, and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.
Officials had been called to the apartment to deal with Dunn and Sander both individually and collectively in the past, mainly on nuisance-type complaints.
Despite the manslaughter charge, Dunn's family members told the court they see his death as a murder, asserting that their conversations with him had always indicated Sander was the aggressor in their physical relationship, and that he always bore the brunt of the injuries.
Though plagued by his own demons, Dunn was a kind man who genuinely wanted to help Sander, family members said. While Dunn was prone to nag and pester while drunk, Sander was "explosive," they said.
"She has a history of violence when she drinks. He was the only person soft-hearted enough to take her in," Vicki Dunn said of her stepson.
Earlene Dunn, Michael's sister-in-law, cited a number of statistics outlining the frequency of domestic violence against men, and how seldom it was reported. She recalled various experiences driving Michael Dunn to get medical help, for things like stitches or a dislocated shoulder, as he asked her not to tell the doctors what had happened.
"They are embarrassed, emasculated," Earlene Dunn said. "I think the consequences should be equal and the same, no matter the gender."
Earlene Dunn cited her brother-in-law's kindness as she shared a Valentine's Day card she found as she cleaned his home after his death.
"Shannon, you are a good person. I wish the best for you. Love, Michael," the valentine read.
