In 2013 porch shooting resentencing, Dearborn Hts. man to serve same length of time

A Dearborn Heights man convicted of killing a woman in 2013 after she knocked on his front door was ordered by a judge Wednesday to serve the same length of time in prison he had initially received, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said.

Theodore Wafer was ordered by Wayne County Circuit Judge Dana Hathaway to serve 15-30 years for second-degree murder and two years consecutively for felony firearm, officials said.

"We are pleased with the court’s resentencing of Mr. Wafer today," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement Wednesday. "There were very sound reasons for the original sentence, and it was the wisest course to give the same sentence today."

The decision came about four months after the Michigan Supreme Court vacated his manslaughter conviction and ordered him to be resentenced. The high court was asked to consider whether it was improper for Wafer to be convicted of murder and manslaughter for the same death.

The justices unanimously ruled he should not have been punished for both second-degree murder and statutory involuntary manslaughter, finding that the double jeopardy clause prohibits multiple punishments for the same homicide.

In February, Wafer's attorney Jacqueline McCann argued his manslaughter conviction contradicted the murder one since that requires malice. The prosecutor's office argued the people proved his guilt on each of the crimes.

Wafer, a former maintenance worker at Detroit Metro Airport, was convicted in 2014 in the fatal shooting of Renisha McBride, 19. 

Prosecutors said on Nov. 2, 2013, McBride sought help at Wafer's porch and was disoriented after a single-car accident less than a mile away.

They said Wafer shot the woman in the face through a screen door. His attorney argued Wafer feared for his life and thought McBride, who was intoxicated and was trying to break in.

Hathaway gave Wafer his original sentence on Sept. 4, 2014. 

In 2018, Wafer's lawyers sought to have his conviction overturned, saying his legal rights were violated when the jury was given faulty instructions. The Michigan Supreme Court denied the request.

cramirez@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @CharlesERamirez