`BATTERED-PERSON' THEORY EASES KILLER'S SENTENCE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 14, 1993                   TAG: 9302140121
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: YAKIMA, WASH.                                LENGTH: Medium
`BATTERED-PERSON' THEORY EASES KILLER'S SENTENCE
A man who said he was driven to kill his boss after being repeatedly sexually assaulted by him was given a light sentence by a judge who accepted his "battered-person syndrome" defense.
Peter Schneider, 25, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter for killing Dennis Waymire, who owned the auto parts store where Schneider worked.
Despite a prosecutor's request for a 10-year prison sentence, Superior Court Judge Michael Leavitt on Friday sentenced Schneider to 21 months, about 10 months less than the standard for manslaughter.
"When you view the deliberation and planning that went into the killing of Dennis Waymire, it has to be done through the prism of the battered-person syndrome," Leavitt said.
Paul Mones, a Los Angeles lawyer and an expert in the battered-women and battered-children defenses, said the case was among the first that allowed the use of a battered-person defense involving people of the same gender.
Prosecutor Jeff Sullivan said he had sympathy for Schneider, but that it was a well-planned execution and demanded a severe sentence.
Schneider pleaded guilty Monday to shooting and burying Waymire in an orchard in October 1986, then driving Waymire's truck into a canal.
He said Waymire was a friend and employer who suddenly began demanding sexual favors, telling Schneider, then 19, that he would kill his family if he didn't cooperate.
Schneider said he contemplated suicide, then decided to kill Waymire.
Waymire was treated as a missing person until last May when Schneider's brother, Kevin, revealed the slaying during a polygraph examination while applying for a job.
Peter Schneider started working for Waymire when he was 15, receiving money, gifts and a car from him before the assaults began, according to testimony.
Experts described Waymire's relationship with Schneider as a classic case of a sexual offender "grooming a victim."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB