FRANK DELANO
A Westmoreland County jury last night sentenced a 72-year-old retired policeman to five years in prison for killing his brother-in-law last year.
"I'm afraid I just killed my brother-in-law," Raymond Sandifer said in a 911 call he made at 1:26 a.m. last Sept. 27. A woman's screams could be heard on the tape.
But Sandifer testified yesterday that he remembered nothing about the shooting death of his sister's husband, Joel Tropper, 57, a real estate agent from Gaithersburg, Md.
"I have no idea how Joel got shot. I never had a thought to kill Joel," he said.
Tropper and his wife, Alice, were visiting Sandifer and his wife, Cecilia, when the shooting occurred at the Sandifers' waterfront home in Coles Point.
According to testimony, the wives had gone to bed, and the husbands had stayed up drinking. According to lab reports, both men had blood-alcohol levels three times greater than required for drunken-driving convictions.
Cecilia Sandifer testified that a loud noise awakened her. She found her husband standing by a gun on the dining room table and Tropper slumped in a chair. "I think I said 'You shot Joel,'" she testified. "He said, 'That's not Joel, I wouldn't shoot Joel.'"
"It's a nightmare downstairs!" Cecilia Sandifer called to Tropper's wife Alice Sandifer. Both women testified that Raymond Sandifer then took the snub-nose .38-caliber revolver, fired a shot near his head and fell to the floor. Both women thought he had committed suicide.
Sandifer was not injured. He was charged with first-degree murder and firearm charges later that morning at a Tappahannock hospital.
Sandifer retired as a lieutenant after serving 20 years with the Metropolitan Police of Washington, D.C. He then worked several years as an investigator for the U.S. Department of Defense. He and his wife moved from Crofton, Md., to Coles Point about five years ago.
"Joel and I were good friends. We always got along," Sandifer testified. "I was never aggravated with him."
Sandifer also testified that he kept his pistol hidden away on a top shelf of a closet in his bedroom.
"I have no recollection of getting the gun, no idea who got it and no memory of the gun in my hand," he said.
Sandifer had no criminal record. Several defense witnesses testified to his good character. "If ever there was a citizen entitled to the presumption of innocence, it is Raymond Sandifer," said Craig Cooley, one of his two defense attorneys.
Sandifer's sister said: "I forgive him. I feel it was a horrible accident."
The jury deliberated more than two hours before finding Sandifer guilty of involuntary manslaughter and discharging a firearm in an occupied dwelling. The maximum prison terms for the convictions were 15 years.
While the jury deliberated his punishment, Sandifer sat between his wife and sister. He held his wife's hand while she sobbed into tissues she pulled from a box in her lap.
The jury sentenced him to five years on the manslaughter conviction and fined him $2,500 for the firearm conviction.
About 20 members of Sandifer's family attended the trial. Some of them, including his wife and sister, gasped and cried when the sentence was announced and Sandifer was led away by deputies.
Frank Delano: 804/761-4300
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com