Booking photo for Shawn Andrews (Courtesy: Cache County Jail).
LOGAN — A 29-year-old North Logan man has been sentenced to prison for stabbing his mother in the back with a knife and killing her in 2019. Shawn R. Andrews cried and wiped tears from his eyes with a tissue, as he told the court he loved his mom.
Andrews was sentenced in 1st District Court Monday morning. He previously accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty but mentally ill to one count of attempted murder, a first-degree felony; manslaughter and obstruction of justice, both second-degree felonies.
Public defender Mike McGinnis said Andrews suffered from schizophrenia and an addiction to methamphetamines. Despite that, he told the court there was never an excuse for taking someone’s life. He described how his client felt horrible for what happened and will live with the consequences for the rest of his life.
Andrews told the court, he really did love his mom and there wasn’t a day, he didn’t feel sorry for what he had done. He asked the court for leniency, saying he just wanted to get more help with his mental illness.
Cache County Deputy Attorney Dane Murray called the murder a tragedy. He said the case showed that drugs don’t just affect the person using them.
On the afternoon of Nov. 23, 2019, police officers found Debra Andrews lying dead on the floor, just inside the front door of her North Logan apartment. A cellphone and set of dentures were near her head. An empty bottle of alcohol was on a coffee table nearby.
Shawn Andrews had stabbed Debra Andrews in the back after an argument. He then removed the knife and fled the scene, before being found by law enforcement nearby at a department store.
During Monday’s sentencing, Judge Angela Fonnesbeck said the whole case was about loss, the loss of the victim and the defendant, along with the loss of innocence to the community. She said Andrews’ choice to use drugs had dire consequences to the public and proves that mental illness cannot go unchecked.
Andrews was sentenced to four-years-to-life in prison and given credit for the time already served in jail.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
will@cvradio.com