Cecelia Sharkey is the daughter of the late actor Ray Sharkey. In 2015, at age 26, she beat her boyfriend’s mother to death with a baseball bat outside the woman’s Reseda, California home. She was charged with capital murder, spent more than two years in custody, and in November 2017 pleaded no contest to second-degree murder. The court found her insane at the time of the crime and ordered her committed to Patton State Hospital rather than sent to prison.1San Fernando Sun. Actor’s Daughter Pleads No Contest to Murder, Found Insane at Time of Crime
The Killing in Reseda
On the morning of September 19, 2015, Sharkey attacked 54-year-old Patricia Metropoulos just outside Metropoulos’s home in Reseda, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles.2Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Woman Charged With Beating Boyfriend’s Mother to Death Metropoulos was the mother of Sharkey’s boyfriend.3CBS News. Daughter of Late Actor Ray Sharkey Charged With Murder of Boyfriend’s Mother
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the killing was triggered by a dispute between the two women.4Los Angeles Times. Woman Accused in Slaying Is Daughter of Late Actor Ray Sharkey At least three witnesses saw Sharkey swing a baseball bat and strike Metropoulos in the head.5Los Angeles Times Homicide Report. Tricia Lynn Metropoulos The nature of the underlying dispute was not publicly detailed, and no motive beyond the dispute and the later insanity finding was reported.
The Original Capital Murder Charge
Three days after the killing, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Sharkey with one count of murder, alleging the special circumstance of lying in wait and that she used a baseball bat as a deadly and dangerous weapon.2Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Woman Charged With Beating Boyfriend’s Mother to Death The lying-in-wait allegation made it a capital case, exposing her to the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. She was held without bail.
On October 5, 2015, Sharkey pleaded not guilty.6Daily News. Daughter of Ray Sharkey Pleads Not Guilty in Reseda Baseball Bat Murder At that stage, prosecutors had not decided whether to seek a death sentence.7San Fernando Sun. Actor’s Daughter Pleads Not Guilty
The 2017 Plea and Insanity Finding
Sharkey stayed in custody for more than two years. On November 28, 2017, she pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of second-degree murder.1San Fernando Sun. Actor’s Daughter Pleads No Contest to Murder, Found Insane at Time of Crime The lying-in-wait special circumstance was dropped, which took the death penalty and life-without-parole off the table.
The court found her insane at the time of the crime and ordered her committed to Patton State Hospital, a state psychiatric facility in San Bernardino County.8MyNewsLA. Wiseguy’s Insane Daughter Killed Reseda Mom With Baseball Bat, No Contest The specific terms of the commitment, including its maximum length, were not publicly reported.
What the Insanity Commitment Means
A commitment after a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity finding is not a shorter path out than a prison sentence. Under California law, the commitment runs for a term equal to the maximum prison sentence the defendant could have received for the underlying conviction.9California Department of State Hospitals. Forensic Commitments For second-degree murder, that is 15 years to life. The patient gets credit for time already served but no good-behavior credits.
California uses the M’Naghten standard: the defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that at the time of the offense they either could not understand the nature of the act or could not tell right from wrong. A successful insanity finding is an acquittal on the criminal charge, but it produces involuntary hospitalization rather than release.
Getting out is a two-step, court-supervised process. A patient can petition for conditional release to a supervised outpatient program, and only after completing community supervision can seek a full restoration of sanity. The hospital’s medical director sends progress reports to the court every six months. If prosecutors believe the patient is still dangerous when the maximum term ends, they can petition for a two-year extension, which must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury.9California Department of State Hospitals. Forensic Commitments A 2021 investigation found patients in the state’s forensic conditional release program spent an average of nearly eight years under supervision after leaving the hospital, and clinical recommendations for full restoration of sanity were rare. Some patients remain under state control for decades.
Her Father, Ray Sharkey
The case drew wide attention because of Sharkey’s father. Ray Sharkey was an actor best known for his Golden Globe-winning performance in the 1980 film The Idolmaker and for playing mob boss Sonny Steelgrave on the television series Wiseguy. His career was shadowed by cocaine, heroin, and alcohol addiction, and he died on June 11, 1993, at age 40 at a Brooklyn hospital from complications of AIDS, which his manager said he contracted through intravenous drug use.10Variety. Ray Sharkey
Cecelia Bonnie Sharkey was born in 1989 to Ray Sharkey and his then-wife, Carole Graham, and was four years old when her father died.4Los Angeles Times. Woman Accused in Slaying Is Daughter of Late Actor Ray Sharkey Public reporting has not detailed her upbringing or the years between her father’s death and the 2015 killing.