A former resident of a now closed group home who killed a former Pine Valley man with a frying pan was sentenced Jan. 6 to 16 years to life in prison.
Shannon Beasley, the sister of Michael McCarthy, 39, spoke about how his 2018 murder “turned the family upside down” with grief and anger because the facility was not licensed or regulated.
Beasley made her comments in the sentencing of Brad Masaru Payton, 28, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 4:30 a.m. incident on Dec. 20, 2018, on Naranca Avenue in El Cajon.
McCarthy formerly lived with his parents in Pine Valley and was described as developmentally disabled. He was living in the group home when Payton hit him over the head with a frying pan.
Payton was arrested by police at the independent group home operated by Living Solutions & Services, which permanently closed not long after the slaying. It wasn’t licensed and too many people were living there.
Payton’s attorney, Veda Tavakkoly, told El Cajon Superior Court Judge Robert Amador that Payton had schizophrenia, but his father was unable to get a conservatorship to manage him.
“I know he is very sorry for what has happened,” said Tavakkoly, who said his family “extend deepest sympathies to the McCarthy family.”
The victim’s mother mother, Karen McCarthy, gave interviews to several TV newscasts when she learned of her son’s death and the frequent visits by police at the home for disturbances.
Karen McCarthy said in 2018 that her son had previously been homeless but was stabbed in Lakeside by someone. He decided to pay $750 a month from his disability check to the group home in El Cajon so he could be safer, she said.
Beasley said her mother has since died of a rare cancer less than a year later. “My mother was never the same” after her son died, said Beasley.
“My mother was handed ashes into a box,” said Beasley about her brother’s remains.
“The system did her a disservice,” said Beasley. “Adult Protective Services did her a disservice.”
Amador imposed 15 years to life for the murder plus one year for the use of a frying pan as a deadly weapon Carlos Campbell. Payton was given credits of serving 749 days in jail since the incident.
