Jury convicts woman of second-degree murder for Dana Point Harbor boat killing
A federal jury convicted a boat owner and fisherwoman of second-degree murder for her role in a shooting off Dana Point Harbor in 2019, clearing her of premeditation but blaming her for leaving the victim in the Pacific Ocean.
Sheila Marie Ritze, 42, has a chance of seeing freedom again because the jury found her not guilty of first-degree murder, which carries life in prison, but she’ll still face significant time in prison at sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled.
Jurors deliberated about 2½ days before reaching a verdict about noon on April 19. A different jury convicted Ritze’s friend Hoang “Wayne” Xuan Le of first-degree murder last December, concluding he’d planned to kill Tri “James” Minh Dao when he and Ritze took him on a boat trip late on Oct. 14, 2019.
Le shot Dao then bragged about it to friends who recorded him and testified against him, but jurors in Ritze’s trial didn’t hear any of that because the judge presiding over the case, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, wouldn’t allow in Ritze’s trial recorded statements from Le that implicated Le but not her. The judge also early in the case ordered Ritze and Le tried separately when prosecutors had hoped to try them together.
That left Ritze’s former mother-in-law, Sandra Ritze, as the key witness in support of prosecutors’ theory that Sheila Ritze knew full well Le planned to kill Dao when she took them out on her boat under the guise of a lobster fishing excursion. After Sheila’s arrest in December 2019 on a charge of accessory after the fact, Sandra Ritze told investigators Sheila had told her of plans to kill Dao during a trip to Las Vegas for a Billy Idol concert 10 days before Dao’s death. That led to Sheila being charged with first-degree murder, but jurors said after the verdict on Tuesday they didn’t believe Sandra’s testimony.
One female juror said she “didn’t believe anything” Sandra said.
“I would say you did a good job undermining her credibility,” a male juror told Sheila’s lead defense lawyer, David Wiechert, who worked the case with associate attorney William Migler.
Wiechert said in his closing argument on April 14 that Sandra’s role in the case makes him think of the 1972 O’Jays song, “Back Stabbers.”
“Because it’s totally appropriate,” Wiechert said.
Jamon Rayon Buggs, 47, was arrested in April 2019 on suspicion of the killing of Darren Partch and Wendi Miller.
Wiechert told jurors Sandy was lying to try to get Sheila out of the picture so she can spend more time with her granddaughter, Sheila’s daughter. He emphasized how much time she spent reading a Department of Justice news release about Sheila’s arrest and a Los Angeles Times coverage of it before she spoke to investigators, and he showed jurors messages between her and an FBI agent in which the agent sent her a news release about Sheila’s being indicted for murder and Sandy replied, “It is good news. You guys did a good job” with a high-five emoji. She also told the agent she’s doing “great” and “had my granddaughter with me for two weeks.”
Wiechert also had a text from Sandra in which she told a family member “keep the witch in jail!!!,” which she said on the witness stand she regretted saying.
“If you don’t believe Sandra Ritze, they have nothing that ties Shelia Ritze to this victim or intent to kill this victim,” Wiechert said. “In any universe could you ever believe Sandra Ritze beyond a reasonable doubt?”
In a conversation with lawyers and a reporter after the verdict, jurors said they spent a lot of time debating between voluntary manslaughter and second-degree murder, with “extremely hard” discussions that included role playing and, at times, arguments so heated some wondered if the bailiff would need to be summoned.
The foreman, a 57-year-old man who’d served on seven prior juries, said the case was the most difficult he’s seen. “I can’t even compare it,” he said.
The murder was prosecuted in U.S. District Court under federal maritime law instead of Orange County Superior Court because it occurred in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Dana Point.
Ritze also was convicted of one count of making a false statement to the FBI for two lies: one telling investigators she hadn’t met Dao until the night of the fishing trip and the other that a GPS tracker she possessed was meant to track employees of the property management company where she worked when she actually gave it to Le to stick on Dao’s girlfriend’s car.
Prosecutors argued in both trials that Le murdered Dao because of a large debt he believed Dao’s girlfriend would pay with his life insurance money. Defense lawyers disputed there was a debt, and Wiechert in Ritze’s trial emphasized that Dao had bet money on the St. Louis Cardinals to beat the Washington Nationals, and the Nationals had won the game 8-1. Wiechert had the game’s box score introduced as evidence as part of an effort to show jurors it was Dao who had reason to be upset about money that night, not Le.
He described Ritze as a “lonely drunk woman” who was drawn to Le after poor treatment by her husband and deep depression over her mother’s suicide. He said she tried her best in a two-hour recorded FBI interview after her arrest in which she answered questions without a lawyer present, though prosecutors Greg Scally and Greg Staples said she clearly lied and only came forward on somethings when confronted by investigators.
“Being stupid in love is not a defense to murder,” Scally said in his closing argument.
Jurors saw a cellphone video of Sheila drunk at work, bragging about knowing hitmen and being able to take people out on her boat and make them disappear. They also heard of her boasting about Wayne being able to protect her on a moment’s notice by shooting people with an assault rifle, which Le indeed had in his home when he was arrested.
They asked to rewatch the work video during deliberations, as well as videos of Sheila and Sandra at the Billy Idol concert, which was after Sheila supposedly told Sandra they were planning to kill Dao. They eventually got all recordings back in the jury room so they could listen to whatever they wanted without request. Jurors said they listened to the FBI interview for signs of fear when Ritze said Le told her to drive the boat away after Dao fell in the water, and they didn’t hear any.
“Nowhere did she say that she was scared or she felt threatened, she just said that he said ‘Go go go,’” one female juror said. “I was giving her the benefit of the doubt on so many things, and I was putting myself in her shoes, but then I was like, ‘Why didn’t she just go back? Why didn’t she call somebody?’”
“It was hard, by the way. It was extremely hard,” added one juror, a younger man. Another young man said he was the last juror persuaded to go with second-degree murder instead of voluntary manslaughter, and it took the other jurors a day to get him there by explaining that the ballistics regarding the gunshots didn’t match her story.
Ritze remains in jail pending sentencing by Judge Carter, which has not yet been scheduled. She faces at least 19 to 24 years for the murder conviction under U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines.
Meghann M. Cuniff is a contributor to the Daily Pilot. She’s on Twitter @meghanncuniff.
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