Shanna Friday sentenced to 14.5 years for 2nd-degree murder of Jerry Deshazer

A 14-and-a-half-year prison sentence was handed down Tuesday to a Lawrence woman convicted of killing 62-year-old Jerry Lee Deshazer.

Shanna Friday, the defendant, lashed out at prosecutors and detectives before she was sentenced.

“I’m tired of this liars’ club,” shouted Friday, 37. “Hurry up and send me to prison.”

A Douglas County jury found Friday guilty of second-degree murder Nov. 7 for her participation in the beating of Deshazer, who bled to death from a head wound he suffered Feb. 1 at his southeastern Lawrence mobile home.

A coroner’s official said Deshazer died from a massive loss of blood from blunt-force trauma to his head that peeled back his scalp.

“Mr. Deshazer was simply left to die,” District Attorney Charles Branson said.

Friday looked at Deshazer’s loved ones, nodding her head and sometimes becoming emotional, as they spoke about the victim and the case in court Tuesday.

“I pray to God you never get out, that you spend the rest of your life in prison … so that you can never hurt anyone else,” said Judy Deshazer, the victim’s younger sister.

Friday asked for a new trial, but the motion was denied by District Judge Robert Fairchild.

Friday, who said she planned to appeal the case, said she was not responsible for Deshazer’s death.

Hatem Chahine, Friday’s appointed defense attorney, said prosecutors didn’t have DNA evidence to link her to the bottle believed to have caused Deshazer’s fatal injury.

Co-defendant Jerod Buffalohead, 36, previously testified that he saw Friday striking Deshazer with a glass bottle in the face and head during a drunken argument. Buffalohead, Friday’s longtime friend, pleaded guilty Sept. 4 to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Other witnesses have testified that Buffalohead hit Deshazer, but Buffalohead said he only slapped Deshazer once while trying to break up a scuffle.

Several other factors contributed to Deshazer’s death, according to testimony, including the alcohol and medicine he had ingested and his existing medical conditions, which included emphysema and heart disease.