Shaun Gallon, the Forestville man who pleaded no contest to killing an engaged couple from the Midwest on a Sonoma County beach 15 years ago and his brother in 2017, was sentenced Monday in Sonoma County Superior Court to three consecutive life prison terms without parole.
Gallon, 40, listened to an audio tape of his confession to the gunshot slaying of Lindsay Cutshall, 22, of Ohio and Jason Allen, 26, of Michigan on Fish Head Beach on Aug. 18, 2004.
"I shot those two people. I'm the one who did it. I just made myself do it. I don't know what I was thinking," Gallon said.
The couple were in sleeping bags when Gallon saw them on the beach around 3 a.m. He said he walked back up a 200-foot cliff, got his rifle and returned to couple's overnight campsite. He said he shot Allen in the head,
Cutshall sat up and he shot her behind the ear. Then he picked up the casings, he said.
"I just stood there and watched the guy's blood pour out," Gallon told the investigators.
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The slayings occurred less than two months after Gallon placed a motion-triggered homemade bomb on top of a car in Guerneville intending to kill John Robles on June 10, 2004. They were in a fight before the bombing but seemed to have made peace, Robles told the court.
Robles' girlfriend was injured instead. A note with the bomb said, "Dear Friend, I waited a long time for this."
Robles wore a T-shirt printed with those words to court Monday.
"Enjoy today Shaun because this is the most freedom you'll ever see again," Robles said.
On March 24, 2017, Gallon killed his brother Shamus Michael Gallon, 36, in their Forestville home. Chief Deputy District Attorney Spencer Brady said Gallon made the AR-15 gun he used to shoot his brother. The gun jammed after Gallon shot Shamus in the chest, he cleared it and shot his brother again to "finish him off," Brady said.
"These are some of the worst crimes in the history of this county," Brady said.
Gallon pleaded no contest to all three of them in a consolidated complaint.
Defense attorney Jeff Mitchell told Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Robert LaForge that Gallon's mental functioning changed around 2001 after he took a large dose of LSD.
"There was a profound change that drove him to commit these acts," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said Gallon voluntarily confessed his involvement in the beach murders and expressed remorse in 2017 when investigators asked Gallon if he was sorry.
"He said every day something makes him feel wretched as if he died and went to hell," Mitchell said. "He did step forward and provided closure and resolution of cases that would probably never be solved," Mitchell said.
Brady said Gallon told investigators he was likely drunk when he killed Cutshall and Allen.
"He premeditated these murders and weighed the pros and cons. It's not even possible he was drunk when he scaled a 200-foot cliff and went back down in the dark," Brady said.
Regarding Gallon's cooperation with law enforcement and his confession, Brady said Gallon lied to investigators for more than 12 years.
"The confession is 12 and a half years late," Brady said.
All victims were completely innocent and unarmed, and all were killed by weapons Gallon made, Brady said.
"He was fascinated with killing and death," Brady said.
Cutshall's parents Chris and Kathy read statements at the sentencing hearing statements by Allen's parents who did not attend. The devout Cutshall couple spoke of their grief but also in the belief they will be reunited with their daughter.
"Your evil deed did not ruin my life. I have faith in Jesus," Chris Cutshall said.
He also said he found a strand of his daughter's hair in her dresser and keeps it in a makeup case and one of her rings he now wears every day.
"I am a man with a broken heart but I'm okay with that. Lindsay is worth it," Cutshall said.
Kathy Cutshall held up her daughter's wedding dress and asked Gallon to look at it. She then asked Gallon if he has a Bible.
"Yes Ma'am," Gallon said.
"Please read it," Cutshall replied.
In addition to three consecutive life terms in prison without parole, LaForge sentenced Gallon to 94 years in prison for weapons and other enhancements.
"I see absolutely no remorse, none at all," LaForge said.
