Posted on 02/03/2005 2:00:47 PM PST by ambrose
Man gets probation for kicking wife's grave
FLINT THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Thursday, February 03, 2005
By Paul Janczewski
pjanczewski@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6333
A judge said Wednesday he couldn't fathom why Dan C. LaClair angrily kicked his murdered wife's tombstone, breaking a porcelain picture.
Central Judge Christopher R. Odette asked LaClair why he took out his anger on the victim of a horrible crime, rather than on the person who murdered her.
Odette never got a solid answer from LaClair, who said he "spazzed out" that day.
But Odette blasted LaClair at his sentencing for a misdemeanor malicious destruction of property conviction.
"Cemeteries are places of solitude and reflection on the lives of people we honor," Odette said, not places where crimes are committed.
Odette told LaClair his actions "diminished the quality of everybody's lives" when he desecrated the tombstone.
He sentenced LaClair, 39, of Grand Blanc to 1 year probation, fined him $200 and ordered him to pay $535 in court costs.
Odette also ordered him to pay $482 restitution to Dianne M. Parrish, the mother of Danyese M. LaClair, who paid for her daughter's picture on the tombstone.
The judge sentenced LaClair to 93 days in jail, but held it in abeyance providing LeClair successfully completes the requirements of his probation.
In addition, LaClair must perform 100 hours of community service. Odette said he was tempted to have him serve those hours at the cemetery, but decided against it.
Danyese LaClair was murdered April 24, 2000, after leaving the Burton post office where she had mailed letters. Her body was found in a small field behind a doctor's office on S. Center Road a half-mile away.
The 32-year-old Grand Blanc Township woman had been shot in the head; her car was found, still running with lights on, at the post office.
Burton police are continuing their investigation and have not eliminated anyone, including LaClair, as a suspect.
During a court hearing, LaClair admitted breaking the picture April 5, 2003, while visiting his wife's grave. In statements to police and others, LaClair said he went "postal" due to anger, self-pity and grief.
Parrish, 60, of Groveland Township discovered the broken picture during a later visit to the grave in Maple Cemetery off Hill Road.
"My daughter still deserves all the respect she should have received in life," she said after the sentencing.
Neither she nor her husband, Bruce, Danyese's adopted father, wanted LaClair to spend time in jail.
During the sentencing, LaClair told Odette he's lived "under a curtain of guilt" since his wife's murder. He said the Parrishes, police and others have told him they believe he had a role in his wife's slaying.
Odette told him his actions at the cemetery do more to draw attention to that belief by some.
After the sentence, LaClair again denied any role in his wife's slaying.
"If I could have gotten away with that, then I could have gotten away with this (property destruction)," he said.
***
He did it.
Sheesh, I don't think the punishment fits the crime. If he did it because of grief or anger, the case has no business in court. He should replace the picture and try to control his emotions.
Oedette
Who kick dat grave
What grave?
Who kick that grave rat chair
Ohhhh dat
Guilty! Baliff..whack his pee pee!
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