Shawn Commire was a sixteen year old teen killer from Michigan who would murder eighty three year old Rita M. Salogar
According to court documents Shawn Commire and his cousin nineteen year old Robert Commire would break into the home of eighty three year old Rita Salogar. The elderly woman would be savagely beaten and stabbed over forty times. She was able to call 911 before dying
Shawn Commire would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison
Robert Commire would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison
Shawn Commire Now
Current Status:
Prisoner
Earliest Release Date:
LIFE
Assigned Location:
Maximum Discharge Date:
LIFE
Security Level:
II
Shawn Commire Case
The state’s highest court will not be hearing the appeal of a Bay City teen convicted of murdering 83-year-old Rita M. Salogar in 2007.
On July 26, the Michigan Supreme Court denied an application for leave to hear the case of Shawn M. Commire, 19. “…We are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court,” the seven justices’ ruling reads.
A state Court of Appeals upheld Commire’s conviction on Jan. 21.
Commire will remain serving his life sentence at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer.
“This came as good news both to our office and the Salogar family,” said Bay County Prosecutor Kurt C. Asbury. “This defendant’s appeal to the Supreme Court was denied and obviously his convictions are being upheld.”
On June 5, 2007, Commire, then 16, and his cousin Robert M. Commire, then 19, broke into Salogar’s Bay City home. The duo bludgeoned and stabbed Salogar after she was awakened by them rummaging through her bedroom, stealing jewelry and coins, Bay City Times archives show.
During the attack, Salogar managed to call 911, reportedly saying “I’m dying,” and prompting police to respond to the home at 402 N. Catherine.
Autopsy reports showed Salogar died from blunt force trauma and 42 stab wounds.
Robert Commire pleaded no contest to felony murder in March 2008 and was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Now 21, he resides at the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee, the Michigan Department of Corrections’ website shows.
In April 2008, a Bay County jury convicted Shawn Commire of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder, armed robbery and first-degree home invasion, Times archives show.
Shawn Commire News
The life without parole sentence for a then-teenager in a brutal Bay City killing has been ruled unconstitutional by a judge.
Shawn Commire was 16 years old when he was involved in the murder of 83-year-old Rita Salogar in June 2007. Commire, along with his 19-year-old cousin, were sentenced to life in prison without parole.
But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life without parole sentences for offenders who were 17 and younger when they committed a crime is a form of unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.
A hearing was held in June to determine if Commire should be re-sentenced based on the Supreme Court ruling. A Bay County judge ruled the sentence unconstitutional on Wednesday.
Commire will be re-sentenced in December, where the minimum he could serve is 25 to 40 years while the maximum is 60 years in prison.
