’This is one of those sad cases.’ Fresno County woman who killed her brother sentenced
Orlanda Haynes, 65, had been taking care of her mentally ill brother for years until a violent episode in 2020 resulted in his death.
She was sentenced Friday to 21 years in prison for the stabbing death of 60-year-old Sammie Shirley of Orange Cove.
Haynes pleaded no contest on Jan. 12 to voluntary manslaughter, inflicting injury on elder adult and kidnapping.
“This is one of those sad cases where she held down a job and was trying to do her best to take care of her brother in a very difficult situation,” said Emily Takao, her defense attorney.
Haynes, who has battled her own issues with mental illness, confessed to police when they called her in October 2020 to say they found her brother’s body on a hillside off a Highway 180 vista point, about three miles east of Dunlap Road.
Takao said Haynes would take her brother up to the foothills to help calm him down when he was feeling agitated.
It was late, about 3 a.m. Haynes parked the car in a turnout so she could use the restroom. That’s when she heard her brother get out, according to Takao.
“She got scared and started to pepper spray him, then she said she grabbed a knife and started swinging it,” Takao said. “When they found his body he had cuts to his throat.”
After her arrest, Haynes was found incompetent to stand trial and ordered to be evaluated and treated by doctors at the State Hospital. She spent about two years at the facility before a psychiatrist found her competent to stand trial.
Prosecuting the case was Elizabeth Owen with the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.
