An Arizona man, facing allegations of crucifying a pastor and adorning the victim with a crown of thorns, has requested the death penalty to expedite the legal process. His rationale? To allow all parties involved to “move on with our lives.”
Adam Sheafe, acting as his own legal counsel, petitioned the judge last week to accept his guilty plea, aiming for a swift conclusion to the case. He criticized the legal proceedings for unnecessarily prolonging the situation, as reported by Fox 10.
At 51, Sheafe stands accused of the April 2025 murder of William Schonemann, a pastor at New River Bible Chapel. Authorities discovered Schonemann’s body displayed in a gruesome manner—his arms stretched out on his bed, with hands affixed to the wall.
Sheafe has consistently admitted to the crime, never asserting his innocence throughout the proceedings.
He claimed the murder was part of a broader scheme targeting over a dozen Christian leaders nationwide, sources from Fox 10 indicate.
In a court appearance last Thursday, Sheafe stated, “From the outset, I’ve admitted my actions and explained my reasons. I’m not disputing anything.” He expressed frustration over the extended timeline, saying, “My right to a speedy trial has stretched from five months to nearly two and a half years. We’re prolonging this in the name of justice.”
“What about the victim’s families? What about me? What about my family? We want closure so we can move on with our lives,” he continued.
His request for the death penalty on Thursday echoes comments he made a year ago, when he said he wanted to be executed immediately.
“Put me on death row, set the execution date for right now,” Sheafe told 12News at the time. “The victims want it. The victim’s families want it. I want it, and the taxpayers want it.”
A photo of Pastor William Schonemann and a sunset. (Randall Schonemann )
Sheafe told Fox 10 last year that the murder of Schonemann, 76, was part of a plot targeting more than a dozen Christian leaders across the country in a mission he called “Operation First Commandment.”
He has claimed that Schonemann and other Christian pastors were leading followers onto a false path. The defendant’s father, Chris Sheafe, told the Arizona Family that his son had become obsessed with the Bible and has a large tattoo of a Hebrew word for God on his neck.
“Adam became extremely interested in the Old Testament. He read it extensively. And part of that process became his interest. We weren’t excited when we’d learned that he’d done it, but to have the tattoo,” his father said. “It means God. It means he’s directly related to God. And he wanted people to know that was his allegiance.”
Sheafe, who says he is mentally sound, initially filed a petition to plead “no contest,” but the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office objected to that request. Sheafe then offered to plead guilty, but a judge said a future hearing must happen first to ensure his guilty plea is entered voluntarily.
Pastor William Schonemann photographed in an antique airplane. (Randall Schonemann)
“It’s an undisputable fact that the victim, Pastor Bill Schonemann, was over 70 years old. It’s an undisputable fact that the crime was heinous in nature. I intended it to be heinous. So they’re two aggravating factors. And I have no mitigating factors. That’s why I’m saying, why do we have to drag this on and on and on? Why can’t we just go to sentencing? I’m not contesting anything,” Sheafe told the court on Thursday.
“Before I was even indicted, I gave a full confession to the FBI,” he continued, adding that he also admitted to the crime in interviews with multiple news outlets.
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