A Morgan Hill man who was convicted of the brutal murder of Bertha Paulson in 2013 was sentenced to life in prison last week.
Michael Sheppard, 64, must serve a minimum of 15 years for the crime of second-degree murder, according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Chuck Gillingham.
At the Jan. 19 sentencing hearing at the South County Courthouse, Paulson’s older sister and an advocate for the family read statements to the judge.
Paulson’s sister, Margaret Waskey, traveled from the family home in rural Mountain Village, Alaska, to attend the sentencing hearing.
The advocacy group Mothers Against Murder helped Waskey with travel expenses to Morgan Hill. MAM Executive Director Margaret Petros said a portion of Sheppard’s court-ordered restitution will go toward reimbursement of those expenses, if he ever pays.
“We don’t expect that much money to come from the criminal—he’s in prison,” Petros said.
Petros added that Paulson’s family members are pleased with the judge’s sentence.
“We believe he will not walk out of prison, which was very rewarding for the family,” Petros said after the sentencing hearing. With justice served, Paulson’s family is now in the process of planning a memorial service and burial in Alaska, Petros added.
Sheppard’s jury trial took place in October 2017 at the Morgan Hill Courthouse. The jury found that Sheppard killed Paulson, 45, the night of June 15, 2013 at his home at Morgan Hill Apartments, a small mobile home park just north of downtown. It was the only murder in Morgan Hill in 2013.
Court files and testimony during the trial showed that Paulson died of a broken neck and suffered fractured ribs, collapsed lungs and numerous cuts. Her body was covered in bruises. These injuries resulted from a “brutal” attack by Sheppard inside his home, Petros described at the time.
Paulson had moved to the West Coast—first to Seattle and then to the Bay Area—from Alaska about four years before her death, according to Petros and Waskey. When she arrived in Morgan Hill, Paulson was homeless, living in an encampment behind Morgan Hill Apartments, where Sheppard lived.
Sheppard and Paulson had been in an “off and on” dating relationship at the time of Paulson’s death, according to Morgan Hill Police. Witnesses testified during the trial that they had seen Sheppard assault Paulson before the night of her death.
During the October trial, Sheppard testified that he had been drinking heavily when he and Paulson began verbally arguing. This escalated to a physical altercation that ended in Paulson’s death.
Initially, Sheppard admitted to police that he beat Paulson until she was unconscious. He tried to revive her but, unable to do so, he moved her to the railroad tracks behind his residence. Witnesses found her there, dead, the next morning.
At the trial, Sheppard added that he used a shopping cart to move Paulson’s body. Sheppard also testified that when he laid her body near the railroad tracks, he tried to make it look like she had been raped. Police said she was found with her pants down and a jacket over her upper body.
