NEW ORLEANS -- Attorney Sanford “Sandy” Kaynor, who was left paralyzed and unable to speak after being shot in his Uptown driveway in a 2012 home invasion, died early Thursday morning. He was 58.
Kaynor’s wife Grace said she was at her husband’s side comforting him as he died, but the relative peace of his passing doesn’t begin to capture the family nightmare that began on the night of Oct. 2, 2012.
Kaynor was shot in the abdomen and back outside of his Camp Street home. While he lay bleeding and paralyzed from a bullet to his spinal cord, his three attackers stepped over his body and stormed his home, snatching electronics from his eight-year-old daughter before escaping in his Cadillac SUV.
The shooting left Kaynor instantly paralyzed from the waist down. In surgery, his injuries cost him his gall bladder and parts of his liver and intestines. Complications then left him brain-damaged, unable to communicate or care for himself.
Even with around-the-clock nursing care, Kaynor had to be rushed to the hospital at the brink of death more than a dozen times since the shooting.
“Poor Sandy has been near death so many times,” said family friend Michael Harold. “And then suddenly Sandy's doing better. And then suddenly he's doing worse. So it's been a roller coaster ride for the last five years.”
Kaynor recently left the hospital after suffering from major infections due to his incapacitated condition. His wife said she was fortunate to be with him during his final moments.
“I was holding his hand and he just let go. He slipped away. He opened his eyes and he looked at me and he just slipped away,” she said.
Harold remembered how the Connecticut native relished his life in New Orleans, making his mark working at the prestigious Jones Walker law firm and soaking up the musical culture that he loved.
“He was one of the most dynamic individuals you could ever meet,” Harold said. “He was a musician. He sang for the Whiffenpoofs at Yale University. He was an incredibly good lawyer, taking on incredibly complicated mergers and acquisitions…Life was great, and then this happened.”
Three men – Byron Johnson, Devante Billy and Charles Carter Jr. – are each serving lengthy prison sentences for their roles in the shooting and home invasion, a crime spree that ended 17 days later with the fatal shooting of UNO student Valan May. Johnson, then 20, and Billy, then 18, are serving 45 and 60 years respectively for their roles in the crimes. Carter, then 16, was convicted at trial and sentenced to life plus 362 years.
But while the court proceedings ended in 2016, the case never closed for Grace Kaynor, who continued to hope for a miraculous recovery, but instead agonized over her husband's slow deterioration.
“I held his hand and I said, ‘It's OK to let go, you're so brave, you've fought such a great fight. You're the most amazing person I know and I love you.’ ”
Instead of going to a funeral home, Kaynor's body was taken to the coroner's office for an autopsy because he suffered lasting injuries from a violent crime.
The District Attorney's office said it will not decide if any new charges will be considered against the defendants until an official cause of death is determined.
District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro issued this statement upon learning of Kaynor’s death: “I am deeply saddened by the passing of Sandy Kaynor this morning, and my entire office extends deepest condolences to his wife Grace, son Granville and daughter Phoebe.”
“Mr. Kaynor was an accomplished attorney and musician, but above all a beloved husband and father. Though he ultimately died today, in reality his life was taken 5-and-a-half years ago through a senseless act of gun violence in the driveway of his home. While we are gratified that the killers of Mr. Kaynor and Mr. Valan May were brought to justice, the damage done to these victims and their families is irreparable.”