Sean Patrick Mooney was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for murdering his grandfather, 78-year-old Robert Deming in his Bonneau Road home on May 20, 2008.
“Justice was finally served today for a senseless act upon a vulnerable victim, Robert Deming, said Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua. “The jury agreed that the defendant executed his grandfather as he sat at rest in a rocking chair for the selfish expectation of financial gain.”
On July 24, 2009, a Sonoma County jury convicted Sean Mooney of 1st degree murder with a special circumstance of committing murder for financial gain, use of a firearm, elder abuse charges and receiving stolen property, the 12-gauge shotgun that was used in the murder. The evidence revealed that Mooney had shot his 78-year-old grandfather in the back of the head, at near contact, as Deming sat peacefully in his rocking chair at his Sonoma home.
Following the jury’s verdict, Mooney hired new counsel to present a motion for a new trial, claiming among other things that his trial counsel was ineffective at trial and there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict. After several days in evidentiary hearing in February, the judge denied the motion for new trial and set the case for sentencing.
Mooney was ultimately sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. In addition to that sentence, he must also serve two years for possessing a stolen shotgun and another 25 years to life for using a firearm during the murder.
