Homicide cases turn toward forgiveness and contrition

After drinking too much and taking a life, Robert Leahy expressed remorse.

After losing his son to a teenager’s bullet, Davis Walthall Sr. offered forgiveness.

Both gestures took place Thursday in a courtroom filled for much of the day with matters of violence and death.

What Leahy described as his “lapse in judgment” struck at the heart of young love.

In 2014, a week before Christmas, Phillip Black gave his girlfriend, Valerie Shaak, a promise ring. On the night of Dec. 19, the couple climbed onto Black’s moped for the 2-mile ride from Shaak’s home to a Walmart to drop off film from their pre-engagement ceremony.

On the return trip along Old Statesville Road, Leahy’s sedan slammed into them from behind. Shaak, 22, a North Mecklenburg High School graduate, was killed. Black was critically injured.

Leahy? He drove off with the moped still embedded in his Infiniti. After a mile, he parked his car in a business park and fled a quarter mile on foot into woods before he was found by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police dog and the heat sensors from a CMPD helicopter. His blood alcohol level was 0.14, well above the legal limit for driving, said Assistant District Attorney Bill Stetzer.

On Thursday, Leahy, 47, stood before Superior Court Judge Bob Bell and said he was guilty as charged. Then turning to face Black and Valerie Shaak’s family, Leahy said he was sorry for his role in “that horrible night.”

“There’s not a word in the dictionary to describe the pain I feel for the families,” Leahy read from handwritten notes as members of the dead woman’s family cried across the courtroom aisle. “If I could, I would take her place.”

Under the plea agreement, Leahy, who has been jailed since the crash, will serve about three years.

Shaak’s family declined to comment afterward. Her father, Doug, is a former NASCAR pit crew member. He and his wife, Corinne Shaak, have overseen Black’s recovery after moving him into their home.

After the hearing, Janie Scanlon, a longtime friend who sat with the Shaaks in the courtroom, said Leahy’s words had been accepted as sincere.

“It actually helped with some closure,” said Scanlon, who baby-sat Valerie when she was little and then hired her to watch her own children later on.

“When he said he was really sorry and would trade places with Valerie, that meant a lot. It has helped heal them. They don’t want to hold a grudge.”

Love thy neighbor

Walthall has been waiting more than two years to talk with his son’s killer. Around 5 a.m. on April 12, 2013, someone heard Davis Walthall Jr. say, “Please don’t shoot.” A single gunshot followed. Walthall Jr., 42, was found in the living room of his west Charlotte home.

Darnell Foster, 19 at the time, said he thought he was defending a friend who was fighting Walthall Jr. over marijuana when he opened fire that night. Thursday, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter. Given time served, Foster will serve at least two more years in prison before he is freed.

His attorney, Greg Tosi, said Foster was an emerging football star at North Meck High who lost his eligibility – and his way – when he transferred to other schools. Jailed since the shooting, Foster has shown clear signs, Tosi said, of salvaging his life.

Given the chance to speak, the dead man’s father struggled to compose himself before turning to face the younger man. Walthall Sr. told Foster he wanted to discuss the biblical themes of the perils of earthly desires, the promise of resurrection and the necessity of forgiveness.

He said he hoped to one day hear his son’s voice again. But for that to happen, Walthall and Foster had unfinished business to clear up: For God to forgive me, he said, I have to forgive you.

“You’re still young,” Walthall said. “I hope in years to come you’ll think about what happened.”

Foster didn’t reply. Outside the courtroom, his family said Foster planned to apologize to Walthall’s family but had not been given the chance by the court.

“I’m just thankful (Walthall’s) daddy forgave him,” an elderly woman said.

After his remarks, Walthall rejoined his family in a corner of the courtroom and began to weep. He was still crying when deputies put Foster in handcuffs and led him away.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Homicide cases turn toward forgiveness and contrition."