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CHASE SQUIRESThe judge rejected pleas from Thomas Henry Straight's family to send him home on house arrest or probation in Charles David Hood's death.
DADE CITY - Tears flowed in Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb's courtroom Friday, but wishing and hoping and asking for mercy didn't help 64-year-old Thomas Henry Straight.
Cobb sentenced him to a state guideline sentence of nine years in prison for the May 5, 2000, shotgun death of Charles David Hood. Straight said Hood, 36, "was like a son to me," although he also testified at trial last month that the two had engaged in sexual activity at times.
Straight's family begged Cobb to go below state guidelines and send him home on house arrest or probation. They said Straight, a Zephyrhills Correctional Institution psychologist at the time of the shooting, was a good, honest, gentle man who was no danger to society.
"All he's tried to do is help people," Straight's daughter, Barbara Lauer, testified Friday. "He's not bad."
Straight has lived with his daughter in Georgia since 2000. She told Cobb how he suffered from depression and nightmares after the shooting and how he cared for her two children, rising each morning extra early to make breakfast for them before school.
At trial last month, investigators said when they responded after the shooting to the Zephyrhills home Straight and Hood shared, Straight told them conflicting stories before settling on a final version. Straight said Hood was acting suicidal and threatening to kill himself with a shotgun.
Straight said Hood handed him the gun and, swearing it was unloaded, dared him to shoot it. Straight said he pulled the trigger just to prove he believed the man he had lived with for 18 years.
Investigators said tests show the gun barrel was in Hood's mouth when he pulled the trigger, an element Straight said he didn't remember.
He was convicted on a charge of manslaughter.
Straight's attorney, Robert Norgard, on Friday told Cobb that Straight was remorseful and asked the judge to go below guidelines.
Straight's sister, Donna Holbrook, said he could come live with her.
"He deserves mercy," she said. "He's not a criminal. He's not hostile. He never would have hurt David in a million years."
Straight also spoke to the judge.
"I did everything I knew to do to save David's life. He was my best friend. He was like a son to me," Straight said. "It was an error in judgment. I made a mistake that cost a person's life. I'm very sorry."
No one from Hood's family attended the hearing or submitted anything for the judge to consider. Prosecutor Phil Van Allen said no next of kin had shown interest.
Pasco County provided his burial.