LEWISBURG — The mother of a 19-year-old Selinsgrove man shot to death in May was angry Wednesday night to hear a suspect in the slaying had written a letter to her family expressing his remorse.
While witnesses say David Cannie, 27, of Philadelphia, was the gunman who killed Steven M. Rodriguez in Rodriguez’s apartment May 11, Cannie did not admit to his role in the letter sent to The Daily Item.
“I have no way of contacting the family,” Cannie wrote. “But I believe you do.”
Interviewed later at Union County Jail, where he is awaiting trial on homicide charges, Cannie tapped his heart and said, “This letter came from my heart, about what happened. I wanted to let the Rodriguez family know exactly how I feel.”
But when read the letter Wednesday night, Steven Rodriguez’s mother, Santa Rodriguez, of Kratzerville, was angry.
“I don’t want to hear this,” she said. “I don’t care what he says. I don’t care if he says he is sorry. I don’t believe him. I think someone put him up to writing this.
“I don’t want to hear anything from him. Cannie had a gun. He killed Steven. I don’t have any pity for him.”
Cannie said he wrote and sent the letter without telling his attorney, Michael Dennehy, of Danville. Dennehy was not happy when he learned about the letter, Cannie said.
Snyder County District Attorney Michael Sholley said “I can’t comment on why he would send the letter.”
If Cannie had wanted to communicate with the Rodriguez family, he could have sent the letter to the county victim-witness coordinator, Sholley said.
The letter, written in pencil on college-ruled paper, is addressed to the Rodriguez family and is stark in its language.
“There is no easy way to do this, so I’ll be straight forward,” it begins. “Hopefully, this will help you deal with this insanity.”
Cannie wrote he contemplated sending the letter “a thousand times. There is no other way to do this other than publicly.”
He then apologizes for his part in “this tragic situation. There are no words to express how sorry I am for your loss.
“If I could turn back time I would. I understand that a life has been cut short, even though that was not the intention. Steven’s death did not come about on purpose. There was no plan or scheme.”
Cannie blames “sheer stupidity and recklessness.”
He ends the letter by praying that the Rodriguez family “find the strength and patience to endure. Lord willing, this will help you find peace in this senselessness.”
The killing was the result of a drug deal gone bad, police say.
Rodriguez was shot dead in his Selinsgrove apartment after he allegedly stole marijuana from one of the three men accused of killing him. The other two men charged with homicide are Abdul Malik Saeed Walker, 25, of Williamsport, and Ibrahim Musa Wells, 25, of Mill Hall.
During the prison interview, Cannie explained he didn’t even know Rodriguez.
He would not say what his role in the killing was, although he expressed regret.
“My lawyer told me not to get into any explanations now,” he said.
He said he was in the Valley at the time of the shooting to visit relatives.
“I was here to visit family,” he said. “I have family here.”
He would not elaborate on where the relatives live or their identities.
Cannie reiterated in the interview that the letter was a sincere expression of regret.
“That’s all I want to say,” he said, and shrugged.
Sholley said he could not comment on whether Cannie has any prior record of violence.
Sholley said that if evidence of a prior record were determined to be inadmissible by a judge, his comments could then be interpreted as having tainted the jury pool.
A check of Pennsylvania online court records shows no indication of any convictions in Cannie’s past.
Sholley also said that no deals had been made. Negotiations between prosecutors and defense attorneys are quite common, he said.
“There have been preliminary discussions,” Sholley said. “But there have been no offers made to him. Negotiations are happening all the time, any time attorneys get involved.”
-- E-mail comments to rdandes@dailyitem.com.
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