AWOL Soldier Gets 101Years for Killing at Cypress Motel

Originally posted at 12:15 p.m. Oct. 10, 2014. Edited with new details.

By PAUL ANDERSON
City News Service

An AWOL Army soldier who burst into a Cypress motel room and unleashed a hail of bullets, killing a 24-year-old man and injuring his father and another victim, was sentenced today to 101 years to life in prison.

Steven Matthew LeClaire, 26, blamed his father for his alcoholism, his troubles in the military and for getting his teenage sister drunk, Senior Deputy District Attorney Jim Mendelson said.

The defendant was convicted of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder for the Feb. 24, 2011, shooting, which generated so much heat in the motel room that it triggered a smoke alarm.

LeClaire was drunk when he burst into the room and opened fire, killing Marques Murray and wounding then-51-year-old Raymond Eligan and LeClaire’s father, then-42-year-old Steven Francis LeClaire, Mendelson said.

Eligan, in asking Orange County Superior Court Judge John Conley to dole out the maximum punishment, said he has been battling an array of maladies since the shooting, including post-traumatic stress disorder, memory issues, “suicidal thoughts” and nightmares.

“My legs are unable to function properly,” Eligan said, adding that five surgical procedures have not helped, leaving him with chronic pain and bullet fragments and screws in his left leg.

“I am unable to sleep unless medically induced,” he said, adding he is also unable to work.

“My medical expenses exceed $1 million, and it’s growing,” Eligan said.

Nancy Murray told the judge about her last visit with her son.

“He said, ‘Mom, I love you,’ and I said, ‘I love you too, Marques,”’ she said.

Murray said her son had a penchant for making friends.

“He could walk into a room full of strangers and before the end of the night, trust me, he would have a room full of new friends,” she said. “As I sit up at night, sometimes I can still see him smile ... He was a good person and a loving son.”

The defendant “took away my daily phone call from him just to say, ‘I love you and what’s for dinner?”’ she added.

Five of the victim’s aunts and his sister also stood before the judge. Brittany Murray said her little brother “was our family’s loudest member and its biggest heart.”

The defendant’s vendetta against his father dated back to a visit between the senior LeClaire and his then-14-year-old daughter in September 2010, according to Mendelson.

The girl, who has since changed her last name, wanted to see her father, so her mother and stepfather took her for a visit, which soon soured when he gave her alcohol and she had an uncomfortable encounter with one of his friends, Mendelson said.

The defendant, who was stationed in El Paso, Texas, at the time, heard what happened with their father when his sister phoned him. He told his roommate that he wanted to kill his father, Mendelson said.

The soldier went AWOL on Feb. 5, 2011. Nineteen days later, he went to his father’s room at the Cypress Lodge, 5601 Lincoln Ave., and fired off 14 rounds, connecting 12 times, the prosecutor said.

Toxicology tests showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.04 for Murray, 0.16 for the elder LeClaire and 0.20 for Eligan, Mendelson said. The defendant’s blood-alcohol level was 0.10 about 10 hours after the shooting, meaning it was likely closer to 0.24 at the time he opened fire, the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Gassia Apkarian said her client was angered by his father’s visit with his sister because the elder LeClaire got her drunk and because she complained that one of her dad’s friends tried to touch her inappropriately, but had not intended to harm anyone the night of the shootings.

The lawyer said her client enlisted in the Army in 2006 and became a “perfect marksman.” But he grew disenchanted with military service, and after he flunked a test on base, decided he would rather desert his post than face the punishment, Apkarian said.

LeClaire was a “functioning alcoholic” whose drinking accelerated after deployments, Apkarian said. He also abused drugs, using a combination of methamphetamine and cocaine known as “bath salts,” she said.

PHOTO Patch file photo.

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