Palmdale man sentenced to 40 years for killing man over parking spot

Aug. 2, 2014, 8:59 a.m.

Scott Russell Shipley was sentenced Aug. 1 to 40 years to life in state prison for the May 2013 killing of the owner of the Acton Water Co., according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

According to Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Trainor, a jury on April 25 found Shipley, 57, guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Christopher Lawrence Demyen.

Demyen, 39, was shot and killed May 15, 2013, in the 1500 block of Eagle-Butte Road in Acton, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

Demyen and Shipley, both white men, had gotten into an argument over where Demyen had parked his water truck.

Unable to drive through to his Eagle-Butte Road home, Shipley parked his truck blocking Demyen's, walked home and retrieved a gun, according to testimony given at the trial.

When he returned, the two men got into a verbal argument that turned into a physical altercation. At some point, Shipley pulled his gun and shot Demyen in the chest.

-- Maloy Moore

18 reader comments

JDSoCal:

The Homicide Report has always reported the race of both victims and perpetrators.

Here are a couple of the key reasons:

Racial information was once routinely included in news stories about crimes, but in recent decades newspapers and other media outlets stopped mentioning racial or ethnic information because of public criticism. Racial information came to be perceived as irrelevant to the reporting of crimes because it could stigmatize some racial groups.

The Homicide Report departs from this practice with the goal of presenting the most complete and accurate demographic picture of who is dying, and in some cases, who the suspected killer might be.

Race and ethnicity, like age, gender and where you live, are stark predictors of homicide risk.

It's also one of the FAQ questions on all posts before you post a comment but if you'd like to read more use this link: http://homicide.latimes.com/about/#race

— MeganGarvey Aug. 2, 2014 at 4:36 p.m.

The only way to solve murder in America is to Federalize murder. Mandate all murder trials in the United States are prosecuted in Federal courts. Have "mandatory sentences" to take away disparity in sentencing. First degree murder mandatory 150 years,Second degree 100 years,Third degree 50 years. If a gun was used add 20 years automatically.This would take away the "Casino/Court/Roll the Dice Mentality"
The murder rate in the United States would fall so fast to the levels of Western Europe,Canada and Australia because all countries in Western Europe, Canada and Australia have mandatory sentencing. P.S. Western Europe,Canada and Australia have "racial minorities" and everyone is treated the same under their Laws and the same levels of gun ownership. Amazing what common sense laws can achieve!!!

— Darnell Jackson Aug. 2, 2014 at 9:16 a.m.

The Homicide Report

Palmdale man sentenced to 40 years for killing man over parking spot

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