Life in prison without parole ordered in ‘suitcase’ murder case

A San Diego judge, saying she was troubled by the defendant’s lack of remorse, ordered Joshua Matthew Palmer to prison Friday for life without the possibility of parole for raping and strangling a co-worker and stuffing her body into a suitcase two years ago.

“You still want to blame everybody else except yourself for the death of this young woman,” Superior Court Judge Joan Weber told Palmer.

A jury in April found Palmer, 34, guilty of first-degree murder in the 2016 death of Shauna Haynes, 21. He also was found guilty of special-circumstance allegations of murder during rape, sodomy and penetration by a foreign object.

Another tenant at Palmer’s apartment in downtown San Diego who looked into a trash can behind their building found Haynes’ body crammed into a suitcase.

Haynes’ mother and sister read emotional statements in court, noting she will never get to learn to drive a car, buy a house or have children.

“Two years later, and it still doesn’t feel real,” Jeannette Haynes said amid sobs. “You were forever my little sister, and I failed to protect you.”

Their mother, Shirley Haynes, told Palmer, “I hope you are listening to the hurt, the grief, the anguish you have caused me.”

Palmer and Haynes worked together at the Gaslamp Quarter’s Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin Doyle said their relationship was platonic, but Palmer wanted more. The prosecutor said Palmer got angry when Haynes refused to have sex with him, but did so with another man and a woman in front of him, Doyle said.

During the trial, Deputy Public Defender Katie Belisle argued that Palmer acted in the heat of passion, making it a crime of manslaughter, not premeditated murder.

Palmer read a statement in court before he was sentenced, saying his lawyer and the prosecutor got the facts wrong. He said that after the other man and woman left his apartment, Haynes stayed and had consensual sex with him, then she fell unconscious.

Palmer said Haynes’ chest bruises were from his attempt at CPR. Then, he said, he became overwhelmed with “panic, confusion and grief” at her death.

“I lost all ability to think right,” Palmer read. “What I did next was the worst possible thing I could have done.”

He did not describe what he did next, but went on to say, “I am sorry for all the pain and trouble I caused.”

Repard writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune