FORT BRAGG, Calif. – A man from Minnesota has received a 25-year-to-life sentence for the premeditated murder of his half-brother on the coast of Mendocino County, California.
Mark David Schwinghammer, also known as Robert Wayne Sweet, was convicted of the murder of Timothy Dalton Sweet, who was found dead on the beach in Westport on September 12, 2021. The autopsy report revealed that the victim died from a stab wound to the neck, with ligature strangulation as a contributing factor.
The Mendocino County Probation Department described Schwinghammer’s actions as extremely callous, noting that the murder took place on their mother’s birthday and will have a lasting impact on the victim’s family, especially his six-year-old son.
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Eloise Kelsey, the lead prosecutor on the Mendocino County coast, handled the prosecution of the case. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office developed the evidence that led to Schwinghammer’s first-degree murder conviction.
Following the defendant’s guilty plea and impact statements from the victim’s family members, Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Victoria Shanahan imposed the life sentence. The court accepted the guilty plea and ordered the sentence to be carried out.
Schwinghammer is now facing 25 years to life in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the murder of his half-brother, in a case that has left a lasting impact on the victim’s family.