GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (Court TV) — A man was sentenced to spend at least three decades behind bars after a jury convicted him of brutally murdering his girlfriend.
Randall Grinwis stands at his sentencing hearing on March 30, 2026. (Court TV)
Randall Grinwis, 59, was found guilty of second-degree homicide and larceny of $1,000-$20,000 following a jury trial last month. On Monday, he returned to court to face Judge Karen Miedema for sentencing.
Grinwis had pleaded not guilty in the death of Donna Hyma, 63, whose body was found in the home the couple shared on Jan. 1, 2024, the Holland Sentinel reported. At trial, prosecutors said that Grinwis used his forearm to choke the victim before stealing money from her brother and taking off for Las Vegas.
Grinwis’ attorney, Philip Sielski, told the judge that his client was motivated by grief when he turned himself in to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department following Hyma’s death. He noted that at the time Grinwis went to the police, there was no warrant out for his arrest. “All the information that [Grinwis] provided was the glue for the timeline that the prosecution presented to the jury,” Sielski said, as he asked Miedema to sentence the defendant to the lower end of the sentencing guidelines.
But Hyma’s daughter, Lisa Vanderyacht, characterized Grinwis’ behavior very differently in a victim impact statement she delivered to the court. “He said, if he had won in Vegas, he would have kept going,” Vanderyacht said. “He didn’t stop because he was sorry, he stopped because he ran out of money. It doesn’t sound like a man with a guilty conscience, it sounds like a man with a hungry stomach.” Vanderyacht told the Court, “He had a perfectly fine house right across the street. But he wanted hers — and she wanted safety. Because of his actions, neither of them got what they wanted.”
In discussing Hyma’s death, Grinwis repeatedly told officers that he “snapped,” but prosecutors and Vanderyacht told the judge that the evidence told a different story. The defense’s own expert at trial testified that it took at least 40 seconds for the victim to die: “He had 40 seconds to change his mind,” prosecutors said on Monday as they urged Miedema to sentence him to the maximum.
Miedema elected to compromise and sentenced Grinwis to 32 1/2 to 90 years in prison.
Grinwis stood mostly silent at the hearing, speaking only when asked to confirm his name by the judge and declining an opportunity to address the Court.
