Grandson enters no plea in shooting

<p>Sean Patrick Mooney, accused in the fatal shooting of his grandfather Tuesday night, signaled a thumbs-up to his parents and managed a hint of a sad smile as he made his first court appearance in the case Friday.</p><p>Shackled at the waist and clad in a navy blue jail suit, Mooney, 20, was charged Friday with suspicion of murder with four special allegations, including personal use of a shotgun, elder abuse and two enhancements, as well as receipt of a stolen shotgun.</p><p>He was being held without bail in the death of his grandfather, 77-year-old Robert Ferris Deming, who was shot at the Schellville house Deming had called home for the past 34 years.</p><p>"The family doesn't wish to make a statement at this time," his mother, identified by neighbors as Susan Mooney, said outside the courtroom.</p><p>"We're in a lot of pain. You can say that," she said.</p><p>Mooney's family is not unaccustomed to the trauma of violence.</p><p>His cousin, Christopher Ferris Deming, 28, was shot and killed during a botched robbery at a friend's home outside Novato eight years ago.</p><p>Chris Deming, a 1989 Sonoma Valley High School graduate, was the son of Dave Deming, who runs a demolition company out of his home across the highway from where his father was shot dead Tuesday.</p><p>Mooney's family was attempting Friday to hire defense lawyer Chris Andrian to represent Mooney, who was charged in the case but delayed entering a plea until Thursday.</p><p>Andrian appeared with him Friday but said he had not decided whether to take the case.</p><p>He said he hadn't talked to Mooney at any length and didn't know much about the case, having just been called by family members the night before.</p><p>Neighbors of Robert Deming along Bonneau Road in Schellville, south of Sonoma, said his daughter and her husband, Patrick Mooney, live in Chico but had been staying with Deming when he was ill recently.</p><p>Sean Mooney, also of Chico, was the only one home Tuesday night, when Deming, hours away from his 78th birthday, was shot in the back of the head at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun as he sat in a chair watching TV, authorities said.</p><p>Mooney called for help at 9:21 p.m., saying his grandfather had just been shot, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department said.</p><p>He told investigators he was in a camper in the driveway when two armed men drove up to the yellow house, ran into the house, shot Deming, then drove away.</p><p>But portions of his story didn't jibe with the evidence, and investigators were soon eyeing Mooney as a suspect, authorities said.</p><p>Detectives also recovered the shotgun from the scene, one official said.</p><p>Sheriff's Lt. Rob Giordano, who oversees investigations for the department, later said Mooney had planned out the shooting and had recently acquired a stolen shotgun for the job.</p><p>Giordano said Mooney acquired the gun in the Chico area, though precisely when was not immediately clear.</p><p>He also said Friday the motive appeared to have something to do with money.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.</p>