It’s been 10 years since a Syracuse University student was arraigned on a murder charge in connection with the death of his child’s mother.

Brian T. Shaw, a senior at the time, pled not guilty to a second-degree murder charge on March 25, 2005. Shaw was later found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 21 years in prison. Nothing is active with the case, Shaw’s attorney said in an interview with The Daily Orange, but Shaw is likely to get out earlier than the 21 years he was sentenced to.

Shaw strangled Chiarra Seals, the mother of his 4-year-old daughter and wrapped her body in a sheet, put it in a suitcase and then put it behind a garage at 112 Avondale Place, located near Clarendon Street and Westcott Street.

“It wasn’t a ‘who’s done it?’ as far as who did it,” said Thomas Ryan, who served as Shaw’s defense attorney.

An expert psychologist’s testimony said Shaw was under severe emotional disturbance, which led to the charge being changed from second-degree murder to first-degree manslaughter, Ryan said.

“That was a very, very unfortunate situation,” he said. “He was a person, from what I gathered, who had worked hard to get into school and everything and seemed to have a lot of friends.”

Ryan said the support from Shaw’s friends, who reached out to Ryan following Shaw’s arraignment and showed up in court, possibly helped when it came to his sentencing. He could have gotten up to life in prison, he added. Instead, Shaw will end up serving about 18 years in prison.

His release date is scheduled to be March 22, 2023, Ryan said.

Published on March 25, 2015 at 12:01 am

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