2 Men Sentenced in 1997 Stabbing of Youth

Closing a long chapter in an 11-defendant murder case, a judge Friday imposed sentences on two young men that could keep them in prison for the rest of their lives.

Michael Baker, 22, was sentenced to 29 years to life in prison and Christopher Bryan Paonessa, also 22, was sentenced to 15 years to life for the 1997 slaying of Jason Shaw and the attempted murder of Shaw’s friend, Daniel Parkison, during a Woodland Hills party.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Tricia Ann Bigelow said Baker deserved the maximum possible sentence under the law because he was the leader of a pack of youths who crashed the party, and was the one who used the knife that killed Shaw and nearly killed Parkison.

“Mr. Baker was the biggest mover in making this crime occur,” Bigelow said, in a tense downtown courtroom filled with tearful family members and friends of the victims as well as the defendants.

Paonessa was given a more lenient sentence because he was not the actual killer, though he handed Baker the knife used in the crime, Bigelow said. “He was someone who went along with the program.”

During the March 1997 incident, Baker had gotten into a dispute with Shaw, who was hosting a birthday party for a friend, and was thrown out of the house.

Seeking revenge, Baker returned to Shaw’s home a couple of hours later with Paonessa and nine other youths, burst inside and confronted Shaw in his bedroom. Shaw swung a bat at Baker but missed, and was stabbed twice before he died. Parkison was stabbed six times.

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully argued that the defendants, who were teenagers at the time, did not intend to kill Shaw and that the victim, through his own aggression, had provoked the fight.

The first jury in 1997 convicted them of first-degree murder, and they were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, but that verdict was overturned by an appellate court because of erroneous jury instructions by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge L. Jeffrey Wiatt. A second jury this year found the two men guilty of second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino said she was “somewhat disappointed” that Paonessa did not receive the maximum penalty, but could understand why the judge was more lenient toward him.

Before the sentencing, defense attorneys Bradley Brunon and Morton Philip Borenstein unsuccessfully argued that the convictions should be reduced to manslaughter because the crime occurred in the “heat of passion” when the men were still teenagers.

“These two gentlemen were there at the wrong place, wrong time,” said Barry Lennett, a family friend of both defendants, in court.

But Shaw’s family and friends denounced Baker and Paonessa for what they did.

“I hope you feel some of the pain that we feel every day,” said Shaw’s stepfather, John Arriola. “You have sat through these proceedings smug, arrogant, callous . . . You’ve shown no remorse.”

Wearing a large button bearing a photo of her slain grandson, Joan Doi said: “May you both be behind bars for a good many years, if not for the rest of your life.”

Baker and Paonessa were the last defendants to be tried. A third man, Dino Ferrari Riggio of Chatsworth, was also retried, but a Van Nuys jury acquitted him of major charges, finding him guilty only of conspiracy to commit assault. Riggio was given credit for time served.

In addition to the three defendants, eight other youths--including three juveniles--have been either convicted by a jury or pleaded guilty to charges ranging from burglary to assault to conspiracy. Their cases were separated from that of Baker, Paonessa and Riggio because the three were believed to be the most culpable for the killing, D’Agostino said.

“This family has had to sit through three trials,” said D’Agostino, surrounded by Shaw’s parents, aunts and grandparents after the sentencing. “This will hopefully be the conclusion of the 3 1/2-year saga.”