If Charles Sealover?s is a tragic story in the strict sense, then a single, fatal flaw drove him to point a loaded gun out a car window and shoot dead the friend of a friend.
Speaking at his sentencing Thursday morning for the murder of Shawn Shroyer, Sealover?s mother described him as the 25-year-old rock in her family. He took over at the helm when his father died, she said, a “good kid who got caught up in a no-win situation.”
But Baltimore County Circuit Judge Robert Dugan wasn?t convinced that the murder of Shroyer, also 25, who died outside his Towson-area home after a drunken showdown between sets of friends, counted as that sort of tragedy.
“In addition to his poor judgment,” Dugan said, before sentencing Sealover to 50 years in prison, “the factors of drugs, alcohol, false bravado and who knows what else, led to the purposeful and deliberate murder of Mr. Shroyer.”
Sealover turned to face his family and Gladys Shroyer-Webster, the victim?s mother, before receiving the sentence. Reading from yellow paper shaking in his hands, he asked their forgiveness for his “downfall.”
Recounting the events of that January 2005 night, Sealover said he and a friend, Jacob Schuster, were “ridiculously drunk” when he called up a girl and ended up speaking with Shroyer. They argued and agreed to meet near Shroyer?s home for more. Attorneys said Sealover and Schuster brought guns.
Sealover said he and his friend argued with Shroyer and were trying to leave when Shroyer “was shot.”
“Who shot Mr. Shroyer?” Dugan asked, interrupting.
“Your honor, I did,” he said. “I?m truly sorry for putting both families through this.”
Shroyer-Webster said after the hearing that she was unconvinced. She told Dugan that she saw Shawn?s body outside the home that night in “snow covered in blood ? my son?s blood. He was executed,” she said.
Schuster is serving 20 years in prison for second-degree murder.
