Fatal scissors stabbing trial under way

From early on, defense attorney Phil Barnett has not disputed that Sharen Sulpizio May, 40, died in March 2004 at the hands of her husband. Lawrence May was still clutching her bleeding body and allegedly crying "I’m sorry” when police and medical help arrived. What remains unclear is how exactly Barnett plans to explain the attack in a way that jurors might believe is worth less than a first-degree murder conviction and a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The 10-woman, two-man jury ultimately charged with that decision was picked just before 5 p.m. Thursday, after three days of questioning. One alternate was also chosen.

May is charged with the special allegation of lying in wait, a circumstance that made him eligible for the death penalty until District Attorney Jim Fox decided against seeking it. Prosecutor Sean Gallagher wants to prove May stormed out of the meeting and purposely waited to attack his wife with a pair of scissors.

Barnett has not said whether his client will testify on his own behalf. Among the evidence the jury can see for consideration, though, are graphic photos of the crime scene, Judge John Runde ruled during motions last Monday.

What the jury won’t hear, unless a conviction leads to a full sentencing hearing, are personal details about who Sharen Sulpizio May was or the impact of her death.

"This is just a nightmare that won’t end,” said Kevin Granfield, 47, her older stepbrother. "We were supposed to grow old together.”

A devoted mother and friend

The Mays were married 13 years with two young daughters and a son. Sharen Sulpizio May had a degree in family services and worked as a marriage and family therapist for San Mateo County’s Human Services Agency. She also taught conflict resolution to Turnball Learning Academy students, many who knew her for wearing a wide assortment of hats, Granfield remembered.

Aside from work, she was "devoted to her family, her faith and her friends,” Granfield said.

He remembers her spending months helping poor families in Mexico and piling cars with toys and electronics at Christmas to deliver to low-income families in San Mateo County.

Granfield said he never heard the man he called Larry raise his voice or hand to his sister although in divorce papers she called him abusive. He considered May, who he’d known 14 years, a friend and spent much time with the couple until they moved from the East Bay to the coast side.

Two weeks before her death, Sulpizio May filed for divorce and sought a restraining order. His sister had grown tired of her husband’s lack of motivation and employment, Granfield said. He’d never really been social, Granfield said, but the family just thought "that was the way he was.”

Judge Rosemary Pfeiffer denied the restraining order because the children were already in their mother’s custody. Sulpizio May didn’t fear for her safety but did worry that her husband wouldn’t return the children’s passports, Granfield said.

An ‘ambush’

On March 28, the couple met at 1777 Borel Place office to resolve custody issues. Prosecutors claim May stormed out of the meeting and waited about 15 minutes by the third-floor elevator to ambush his wife.

When she appeared, he reportedly stabbed her with a pair of scissors. Witnesses heard screams and called police around 8 p.m. Officers found the couple in the hallway and Sulpizio May was pronounced dead.

The date, Granfield said, was the fourth birthday of the couple’s son, Joseph.

At May’s first court appearance, his wife’s family was visibly upset. So was he, shaking and crying out loud, as he was formally charged and told no bail was allowed. By the next hearing, May was calm and never outwardly emotional until last week. During pre-trial motions about the admissibility of the crime scene photos, May wept.

The last two years since Sulpizio May’s death and May’s entry into the judicial system have been a roller coaster for her loved ones, Granfield said.

May’s case was slowed first when his retained attorney, Cliff Cretan, was appointed a judge in December 2004. No longer able to afford a private attorney, May had the count appoint Barnett. More delays followed as the death penalty decision remained up in the air.

Last February, May finally got a trial date but Fox held off on a capital punishment decision until August. In declining to seek it, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said the office considered May’s mental state, lack of record, the circumstances of his strained relationship and the difficulty in proving he brought the scissors with him.

Earlier this month, Barnett tried one last time to have the special circumstance tossed. He was denied.

A living memory

Meanwhile, Granfield said, the children are being raised by their other sister, Susan, and remain fairly quiet about what has happened, Granfield said. The relationship with May’s parents is strained, he added, and said Sharen’s family didn’t put the last name on her headstone in Holy Cross Cemetery.

Her memory also lives at on Turnball Academy which established a scholarship in her name and planted an apple tree, Granfield said.

The gesture, he said, is just a small example of how many lives she touched.

"Susan said it best right after it happened. She threw her arms around and said, ‘How can it be Sharen? She was the best of all of us’,” Granfield said.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.<