Law&Crime Sidebar - 7 Powerful Victim Impact Statements at High-Profile Murder Trials

Episode Date: January 16, 2024

After a murderer is convicted of a heinous crime, the family and friends of the victim are given an opportunity to address the killer at sentencing. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down the seven most powerful victim impact statements from high-profile murder trial sentencings.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:We have a special deal for our audience: Get your first visit for only five dollars at www.apostrophe.com/pod/SIDEBAR when you use our code: SIDEBAR. That’s a savings of fifteen dollars! This code is only available to our listeners.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Is there something that you'd like to tell the jury about your dad? Yeah. What is that? It's okay. I don't know. I missed him. Victim impact statements are an important part of any criminal trial, and they resonate

for so many people. We are going to break down some incredibly powerful and brave victim impact statements from recent cases. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

As someone who watches trials all the time, I can tell you uncategorically, one of the most difficult things to watch and listen to are the victim impact statements. These are those moments when loved ones or even victims themselves have an opportunity to speak

the court about the literal physical, emotional, and mental impact that crime has had upon them and their loved ones. And this usually happens after a defendant has been convicted or pled guilty. And in theory, they're supposed to help the judge decide what the punishment should be for the crime. But many times, statutorily, by law, the judge really has no flexibility. These are mandatory sentences. It doesn't take away the importance of the victim impact statements. And for the court and for the world, and even for the defendants, to understand what these crimes did, what these crimes meant to so many. So we thought we would do something different here, something special.

We are going to recap seven of the most powerful victim impact statements from recent cases, but I do have a qualifier here. I believe all victim impact statements are powerful, okay? And it was not easy sorting through which ones to choose. We decided to pick a selection of some of those from really truly heinous and disturbing cases. and it's going to be a selection of a few from each case. Honestly, when we first came up with this list, the first case that I thought of,

Parkland. The shooting that happened at Marjorie Stomond Douglas High School and Parkland, Florida back in 2018. Absolutely devastating. The shooter, Nicholas Cruz, opened fire using an AR-15, killed and wounded students and faculty. Now, this shooter actually entered a guilty plea of 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for this massacre at his former high school.

And when he did that, all that had to be decided now was what would be his punishment, what would be the penalty. And the penalty phase was actually like a trial, except the jury wouldn't decide if he committed the crime. They would have to decide whether to recommend life in prison or the death penalty. And what we heard in these victim impact statements was the absolute pain and sorrow of those who lost loved ones that day. We heard from Dr. Elon Aldeheff, father of 14-year-old Alyssa Aldeuf.

Alyssa's friends have all suffered in so many ways. Many of them still go to counseling. One in particular struggles to move forward in her life, and it pains me to see the star on her face each time I see her. Then there are Alyssa's brothers. One was too young to comprehend, but asks to go to the same. cemetery to see a sister from time to time. This is not normal. For the older one, I feel like Alyssa was his best friend. He looked up to her in so many ways. The night of the tragedy,

he stayed up the whole night, calling me every hour asking me if we had found her yet. And I have the heart to tell him on the phone that his sister was murdered. And then there was Anne Ramsey, mother of 17-year-old Helena Ramsey, and listen to what day Elena died. I lost Helena, my daughter, on my birthday. And we should have been out celebrating, laughing, and joined dinner, just doing the usual birthday celebrations. And we spent, instead, we spent hours. fruitlessly searching nearby hospitals for Helena.

Just by looking at the response, we knew, they knew our daughter had died. But they sent us to the Marriott. They sent us to the Marriott Center. And let me tell you, we were waiting there for hours and hours and hours, listening to the screams,

and the howling of all the other families. You were in the hospital. You were being taken care of while our loved ones lay dead. And that's what I want to focus on. Because the victim impact statements also moved on to anger towards the shooter and the defense team. Why? Because after the presentation of all of the evidence, the aggravating factors versus the mitigating factors, aggravating factors like the horror of that shooting and the premeditation, this is all to help

the prosecution show that the death penalty is the more appropriate punishment versus the mitigating factors put on by the defense to suggest that the death penalty is not the appropriate punishment, but instead life in prison, mitigating factors like mental health challenges and defendant's upbringing. Well, the jury, after weighing all of this and hearing all the evidence, they actually recommended life in prison, not the death penalty, which upset many of these family members, including Max Schachter, father of 14-year-old Alex Schachter. You're making the mental health crisis in America worse by misrepresenting what actually happened to the Parkland murderer. Just so you can receive fame and notoriety and go on a book

tour. You obviously have a very high tolerance for murder. God knows what you're showing your kids on television. You obviously have no conscience. If you don't think that this is the worst of the worst, how could you sit there listening to what he did and say this is not the worst of the worst. He hunted down innocent children and staff terrified then tortured them,

blew their heads apart like a water balloon and enjoyed it. That doesn't make it on your worst of the worst murderers list? You make me sick. And these are all parents

who lost their young children. And the anger towards the defendant was characterized by the hope that he suffered. But I hope your ever-breathing moment here on earth is miserable. And you repent for your sins, Nicholas, in burning hell. Nicholas Cruz is now locked away in prison for the rest of his life with no chance of parole. Talking about Parkland, in my view, cases dealing with the death of children are the absolute toughest, the worst to cover. And when I think back on victim impact statements, I'm reminded of the incredibly powerful words from the family of Tristan Bailey. Tristan Bailey was the 13-year-old

cheerleader who was savagely murdered by her schoolmate, then 14-year-old Aiden Fucci, stabbed her to death at night in the middle of the woods. This happened out in St. John's County, Florida on Mother's Day of all days, May 9th, 2021. And one of the ways police actually found out that it was Fucci who did this is from surveillance footage from the neighbor in his own home. You can see him walking with Tristan earlier in the night and then him running back alone later on in the night carrying his shoes as he walks into his house. Now Fucci, like Parkland, ended up pleading guilty to the murder of Tristan. So there was a question now of how long should he be sentenced to prison for as a juvenile.

That's the question. Death penalty wasn't on the table in this case. But before the sentence was handed down by Judge Arley Smith, the court heard these incredible victim impact statements from the family of Tristan Bailey. And I want you to pay very careful attention to the stones and jar that were brought to the courtroom by the family because they play a very important role and they have a very important meaning. 114.

This jar now. holds 114 stones, one for each of the 114 stab wounds, that my sister had to endure. It was one hour and 42 minutes between when my sister was last seen and when Aden Fucci was next seen, running out of the woods holding his shoes because his feet hurt. It's funny that such a simple statement can bring such anger. Aiden Fucci could show compassion for his sore feet. yet had nothing to leave for my beautiful sister. I have racked my brains trying to remember the last words she said to me.

Was it I love you? Was it goodbye? Or did we say nothing at all? What I do remember is her walking out that door. I have nightmares about that moment. In my dreams, I try to reach out and grab her, beg her to spend the night, anything to prevent what happened just hours later, yet every time the door closes before I can get to her.

My baby sister, who always had a sassy reply ready, and a heart filled with kindness, is gone. The depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder is real. The weekly therapy sessions learning how to cope and make it this far is real. The waves of anxiety I experience when I walk around Durban Crossing at night are real. Every time I see or use a knife, the intrusive thoughts of the damage that they can inflict is real. I add this stone for the hope and belief I had in people being good

that died the day that Aden Fucci murdered my sister. You Aden Fucci decided to overpower a 5-foot-3 innocent, 13-year-old girl. How much more of a coward could you possibly be? Your Honor, I can't put a word to it. Agony isn't painful enough. Shattered to the core doesn't crumble like how. I feel. Infuriated doesn't even come close to touching the amount of rage I find myself trapped in. And let me tell you, justice is just a word for comfort. It doesn't bring

her back. This white stone represents my loss and faith in our school systems to keep violent children away from the innocent. We are forever Tristan Bailey Strong. Aden Fucci, you betrayed us all. Your deplorable actions are unforgivable, and I will pray every day that you stay in prison for the rest of your life and never be able to harm anyone else in this world again. Your Honor, I plead with you. Please consider everything that he has done to our daughter and to our family.

8.15 made a heinous decision on May 9th, 2021, and took the very life that I brought into this world. Please do not for one second think that he could be rehabilitated at any point. He is beyond saving. Just one thing with those stones, Tristan's sister literally dropped in all of those 114 stones, and it took some time. really resonated. I know for me and for a lot of people, just the savagery of how many stab wounds were inflicted on this young girl. It's heartbreaking to hear from Tristan's mother and siblings right there. And in the end, the judge sentenced Aiden Fucci to the maximum allowable under the law for this crime, life in prison. By the way, you know what one of the most

chilling aspects of this whole story is? Even to this day, we still never really got an answer as to why he did this. So the new year's here, and we're always committed to kicking it off the right way. These small ways to help us look and feel our best, why not? I mean, we really need to prioritize taking care of ourselves inside and out. For me, I got to spend less time on my phone this year. I have to for my own sanity. But another one of my New Year's resolutions is to get clear, healthier skin in 2024.

I mean, who doesn't want that, especially under this stunning podcast studio lighting we have? I have to look my best. Sometimes it can be harsh. But that's why we're excited to partner with Apostrophy. So whether you're dealing with hormonal acne or breakout, signs of aging, acne scarring, apostrophe's mission is to empower you and to help you feel confident and comfortable in your own skin. Apostrophy is an online platform that connects you with an expert dermatology team to get customized acne treatment for your unique skin. All you have to do is simply fill out an online consultation about your skin goals and medical history.

Then you snap a few selfies and a dermatology provider. provider is going to create a customized treatment plan just for you. By the way, I have to tell you, the unboxing experience, delightful. It included these cute postcards, these personalized stickers on the prescription bottles. It was great. And so with that, we have a special deal for our audience. You can get your first visit for only $5 at apostrophe.com slash sidebar when you use our code sidebar.

That's a savings of $15. The code is only available to our listeners. And so to get started, you just go to apostrophe.com slash sidebar. click Get Started, then use our code sidebar at sign up, and you'll get your first visit for only $5. I want to thank Apostrophy for sponsoring this video. You want to talk about victim impact statements? I don't think I've seen so many statements from actual victims and their family members than in the case of Lawrence Larry Nassar. Goodbye, Larry.

May God bless your dark broken soul. Larry Nassar is the former team doctor for the Women's National Gymnastics. team and a physician at Michigan State University who was convicted for using his position to sexually assault hundreds of young athletes. Victims claimed that Nassar was engaging in this abuse as far back as the 90s. So now some of the first allegations that led to charges were that Nassar had molested girls both at his home and at a clinic on the Michigan State University campus saying he pretended to be providing medical treatment. But on July 11, 2017, he pleaded guilty to federal charges of possessing child pornography. He was sentenced to 60 years of

federal prison that December. Then on January 24th, 2018, he was sentenced to an additional 40 to 175 years in Michigan state prison after pleading guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct. And then on February 5th, 2018, he was sentenced to another 40 to 125 years in state prison after pleading guilty to an additional three counts of criminal sexual conduct in another county. And his state prison sentences run consecutively after he finishes his federal sentence. So it's basically life in prison without any real chance of him ever getting out.

And during these sentencing hearings, and the judges allowed a lot of leeway, a lot of, allowed a lot of statements to come in for things that he wasn't, he didn't even plead guilty to. But these victim impact statements were read aloud by those who were assaulted by Nassar. More than 150 young women who were sexually abused by him had given incredibly strong and powerful. victim impact statements describing how the abuse had changed their lives. And they took aim at him. And when I was 14 years old, I tore my hamstring in my right leg.

This was when he started performing the procedure that we are all now familiar with. I would cringe at how uncomfortable it felt. He did it time after time, appointment after appointment, convincing me that it was helping my hamstring injury. And the worst part was I had no idea that he was sexually abusing me. for his own benefit. You are pathetic to think that anyone would have any sympathy for you. You think this is hard for you?

Imagine how all of us feel. Imagine how it feels to be an innocent teenager in a foreign country, hearing a knock on the door, and it's you. I don't want you to be there, but I don't have a choice. Treatments with you were mandatory. You took advantage of that. You even told on us if we didn't want to be treated by you,

knowing full well the troubles that would cause for us. Lying on my stomach with you on my bed, insisting that your inappropriate touch would help to heal my pain. The reality is you caused me a great deal of physical, mental, and emotional pain. You never healed me. You took advantage of our passions and our dreams.

What's left is a tank on empty due to the emotional. stress of the afterlife of what you have done. My children and my husband get less than my best due to the many sleepless nights and layers of days of scratching and crawling to stay afloat. To this day, I still don't know how he could have been allowed to do this for so long. My teammates and I were subjected to his medical care every single month at the National Team Training Center in Texas. He was the only male allowed to be present in the athlete dorm rooms to do whatever treatments he wanted.

He was allowed to treat us in hotel rooms alone without any supervision. He took photos of us during training and whenever else he wanted. Nobody was protecting us from being taken advantage of. Nobody was even concerned whether or not we were being sexually abused. I was not protected and either were my teammates. I'm the mother of Chelsea Markham and I said, what's wrong? Are you in pain? And she said, mom, I just want to go home. And I said, okay. So we got the car and I said, and she started bawling. And I said, Chelsea, tell me what's wrong. And she said, Mom, he put his fingers in me and they

weren't gloved. And I said, Chelsea, I was right there in the room and she goes, you couldn't see what was going on mom and she said he hurt me she made bad decisions it affected her social life she started running with bad crowds she got into drugs and she never really recovered her the self the person that was my best friend we used to do everything together for my daughter it just became a serious serious bout of depression and so in 2009 she took her own life because she couldn't do with pain anymore it's just not only sad but incredibly brave of these survivors and family members to come out that vulnerability on a national stage unbelievable and a quick mention here i'd be remiss if i didn't mention

but we know there was also a moment of chaos in the courtroom during victim impact statements too when randall margraves the father of three daughters who were assaulted by nassar he tried to attack the former sports doctor in court after asking if he could get some alone time with him i would ask you to as part of this sentencing to grant me five minutes in a locked room of this demon i have you do that i that is not how hard No, sir, I can't do it. Would you give me one minute? You know that I can't do that.

That's not how our legal sister. Yeah, I remember watching that go down. He wasn't charged or anything. Just wow. As for Larry Nassar, after he was officially, sentenced and transferred to prison. He was actually recently stabbed in a Florida prison after allegedly making a comment about women while watching Wimbledon tennis.

Moving on to Dorel Brooks Jr. He's the man who drove an SUV into a Christmas parade out in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six people, wounding dozens of others. This happened back on November 21st, 2021. He ended up facing numerous charges, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide. He was ultimately convicted. the board of all 76 charges. Now, we've talked extensively here on Sidebar about Brooks's antics during the trial, more

specifically the fact that he represented himself. He would get into fights with the judge. He was kicked out of court. He took his shirt off. He built a fort out of boxes in a way. Treated the whole trial like a circus. But let's focus on the victim impact statements because those really explained what he did. They really brought it down to this loss, what he did, the horror of what he did.

For example, here is Sherry Sparks, whose son's 8-year-old Jackson and 12-year-old Tucker were hit by Brooks, with Jackson ending up losing his life. Our family has forever changed. We are hurt, angry, traumatized, and broken. I wish I would have known then that the hug he gave me before I went to sit down was the last hug I would ever get from him. I would have held on to him a lot longer. after the red SUV flew past us it was pure chaos

i will never ever forget the horrible sound of the car hitting bodies and the thud of bodies landing on the ground i saw jackson first in the arms of a police officer then i found jackson's shoe which kind of led me to tucker i finally spotted him he was one of the many bodies lying in the road covered in blankets both boys had traumatic head and brain injuries. They both ended up in the ICU at Children's Hospital. Their room's just a few doors down from one another. The next day, Tucker asked us about Jackson. If he was okay, or was he worse than himself? Do you have any idea how gut-wrenching? It is to have to explain your 12-year-old son that his little brother isn't going to make it.

Every holiday, special event, family function, vacation, there will always be an empty chair of space where Jackson should be. Jackson's absence is very prominent. Every day we face that vacancy and it triggers sadness and trauma. Jackson's life was taken from him and taken from us. Life isn't the same without him and it never will be. We also heard from Amber Conkie, whose 11-year-old daughter, Jesselin Torres, was injured, survived, but injured in the attack.

There have been times where I felt justice wouldn't be served until he had to take that SUV to his chest, drug, thrown, and left with his bare body in the middle of the street exactly the same way he treated my child. And as much as you were hoping to get some sympathy, I have none to give. And I hope the look on my daughter's face before you ran her over haunts you for the rest of your life. And then we heard from Michael Carlson, the brother of 52-year-old Tamara Duran, who was tragically killed that day. particular attention to the specific language he uses. Every day since November 21st has been framed by what he did in my own life, in our family's life. It is the reality I wake to. It is the reality I head to work to. It is the reality I confront as I try to fall asleep. It's the reality I confront as I go about the things

I do during the day. My attempts to work, attempts to manage a house. and be present for my children and maintaining any sort of notion of normalcy in our life. But all these actions are simply a pantomime, Mr. Brooks, to forget that my sister was so stupidly and so needlessly killed by you. Perhaps you can forget what you did, but I can't. November 21 looms as a ground zero day in the story of my life, as I know it does in the life of so many others. I appear today also as a plaintiff. Mr. Brooks, you asked the court to identify a plaintiff many times during the course of the trial. Here I am.

I'm one of many. So that last part was in reference to Dorel Brooks' attempts during the course of this trial to ask prosecution witnesses who the plaintiff was in this case. It was all part of his anti-government sovereign citizen beliefs that the trial, the case was illegitimate that the state of Wisconsin doesn't have authority over him, that they can't be a plaintiff trying the case against him? Guess what? Didn't work. And in the end, Dorel Brooks was sentenced to six consecutive life terms in prison plus 700 years. This next one stuck with me personally. And it is about the case of Chris Watts. In August of 2018, out in Frederick

Colorado, a pregnant mother named a Shanan Watts and her two daughters, four-year-old Bella, three-year-old Celeste were brutally murdered. Shanan's husband and father of the girls and his unborn son, Chris Watts, was arrested. Why? Well, first off, this guy went on local media and pleaded for his family's safe return. Then he sits down with police, fails a polygraph. It didn't help that there was surveillance footage showing that his previous alibi didn't really add up.

He ends up admitting that he was having an affair. He originally claimed that Shanan became enraged and suffocated the two kids. to death, and then Watts strangled her to death. Okay. And he admitted to taking all of their bodies to a remote oil storage site being used by his employer. Shanan was buried in a shallow grave. Bella and Celeste bodies were found in crude oil tanks nearby.

Yeah, that's what we're dealing with here. And in the end, authorities didn't quite believe that Watts just killed Shanan. They thought he committed all the killings. And so he was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, unlawful termination of a pregnancy, and three counts of tampering with a deceased body. And guess what? Despite his claims of innocence, in a way, Watts ended up pleading guilty to all nine charges, effectively admitting that he killed the kids too.

This was a major case, by the way. It took a nation by storm because of how shocking these crimes were. But now we go to sentencing. And you're going to listen to Shanan's father, Frank Rusek, and he is going to talk about his daughter, and his granddaughters, and his unborn son, who had already been named Nico. Shannon, Bella, and Nico love and caring people. They loved life. They love being around people who loved them. They always had good times. This is the first time they went to the beach this year and they loved it. But God only knows what happened that night. Life will never be the

same without Shannon, Bella, and Celeste, and Nico. Had all their lives to live, they were taken by a heartless one. This is the heartless one, the evil monster who dare you take the lives of my daughter, Shannon, Bella, Celeste, and Nico. I trusted you to take care of them, not kill them. And they also trusted you. The heartless monster, and then you take them out like trash. You disgust me. They were loving and caring people.

You may have taken their bodies from me, but you will never take the love they had for me. You have to live with this. vision every day of your life and i hope you see that every time you close your eyes at night oh i forgot you have no heart of feelings or love let me tell you something i will think of them every day of my life and i love them every day of my life i hope you enjoy your new life it's nothing like the one you have out here watts by the way for all of our listeners who can't see this in the video crying the background or seemingly crying has happened in court

Just thinking about what Rusek's words were, what he lost, it's incomprehensible. And the judge ended up sentencing Chris Watts to five life sentences without the possibility of parole. This was an exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table. By the way, after he was sent to prison, Watts finally revealed to authorities what really happened that night, or at least this could be the real story. He says after the argument about divorce with Shanan, he strangled Shanan to death. When four-year-old Bella walked into the room, he told her, Mommy Don't Feel Good, he wrapped Shanan's body in a sheet, he put the body in his truck,

he drove it and the two girls to the oil site where he smothered the children and hid the bodies. Watts was moved for security reasons from Colorado to a maximum security prison in Wisconsin where he will spend the remainder of his days behind ours. Hopefully, as Mr. Rusek said, thinking about what he did. Let's go over now to Idaho, the highly disturbing, in case of Lori Valo Daybell, both Lori and her latest husband, Chad Daybell, they were charged in the deaths of Lori's children, 7-year-old J.J. Valo, 16-year-old Kylie Ryan. Their bodies found on Chad's property. Now, the duo were also charged in connection with the death of Chad's

wife, Tammy, who initially was believed died in her sleep until evidence suggested that she had been asphyxiated to death. Now, the case was particularly harrowing, given the couple's extreme and twisted religious beliefs of good spirits and bad spirits and demons. You would hear throughout the trial of Lori whether these warped beliefs were used as a justification to murder people they believed were possessed. So prosecutors argued that Lori and Chad had an affair, killed the children with the help of Lori's brother Alex Cox, who died from parent blood clots, by the way, and then proceeded to conspire to carry out the murder of Tammy, all as a way to live happily ever after. Oh, and collect on the kids'

Social Security government benefits. In fact, you got to get this. Just two weeks. Just two weeks, weeks after Tammy died while the kids were missing, by the way. Chad and Lori jet off to Hawaii. They get married on a beach. A lot of happy pictures there. So Lori goes to trial in April of 2023, and she's convicted by a jury of her peers across the board of all charges, conspiring to commit the murders of JJ and Tiley. She was also convicted of grand theft and convicted of first-degree murder of J.J. and

Tyler. Okay, but then we had the sentencing. And during the sentencing, we heard from several key people. including Kay Woodcock, who is married to Larry Woodcock. These are key figures in this case. They are the grandparents of JJ. Let's hear what Kay had to say on behalf of the family. Now memories are how I feel the love I so desperately miss.

Do the heinous acts of his mother. The deplorable woman that chose to be his mother. Tyler was nine years old when JJ became her little brother. She loved him so incredibly much, and he loved her right back. She doted on him and JJ, loved every minute of attention he got from his big sister. The love they have for each other is captured in the last photo taken of them, both grinning and hugging each other. Hauntingly, this photo was taken shortly before,

and by the defendant, hours before she murdered her own child, her sweet girl, Tiley. Lori is undeniably a monster, a monster that has not taken any responsibility or shown an ounce of remorse for her vile actions. She deserves to never again breathe oxygen as a free member of society. I'll leave with two final numbers. Three, for the three people who are murdered, who we will never forget. And finally, the number one for the defendant,

the person that will never matter again once we walk out the door. You can just feel like this was a long time coming for the Woodcocks. I mean, they were part of this case from the very beginning. We also heard those on Tammy's side, too, like Samantha William. This is Tammy Daybell's sister. Because of the choices you made, my family lost a beloved mother, sister, aunt, and daughter. She is irreplaceable. She was 1,000 times the woman you will ever dream of being. Your trial was the last thing my alien mother had to live through. She declined in health that she heard through news reports, all the horrible things that happened, and she had to relive all the things we have tried to forget the last four years.

My mother passed away in June knowing that you will never come out of prison again. You are not an exalted being, and there's no huge event that is going to save you. No jail walls are going to fall so you can leave. No angels are coming to rescue you. Well, in the end, they were right. There was no one to come rescue Lori Vallow Daybell. She was sentenced to multiple terms of life in prison with no chance of parole. And at the time of this recording, she was extradited to Arizona where she faces murder charges

in the death of her prior husband, Charles Vallow, who was actually shot to death by Alex Cox, her brother. This is a complicated story. We've done sidebars on it before. As for Chad Daybell, he set to stand trial for his role in the murders of J.J. Tiley and Tammy in April of 2014. Now, I think we should close this up because we talk about powerful victim impact statements or powerful victim impact moments because here is one that is not only powerful, but shocking.

We're going to go over to Dallas, Texas, and it is the case of former police officer Amber Geiger. So back on September 6, 2018, Geiger had just finished her more than 13-hour shift when she went back to her apartment complex. Now, keep in mind, she was still wearing her uniform. and at around 10 p.m., she walks into what she believes was her apartment, only she actually walked into the apartment of a neighbor, 26-year-old, Baltham Jean. And when she sees him thinking he was an intruder approaching her, remember, this is a guy who just saw someone coming to his apartment, she shot him in the chest, killing him, thinking that he was a threat.

Terrible, terrible, tragic situation. And Amber Geiger was charged with his murder, and she went on trial in 2019. Now, in the end, the jury convinced, convicted Geiger of murder, believing that she didn't act reasonably under the circumstances and that she intended to kill him and that this wasn't simply an honest mistake. Now, at sentencing, something unpredictable happened. It occurred when John's 18-year-old brother, Brant Jean, took the stand. And unlike what we've heard so much so far in other victim impact statements where family members express their anger and resentment towards the defendant, this man

looked at the person who killed his brother and said, quote, forgive you. He said, I know if you go to God and ask him, he will forgive you. I love you as a person and I don't wish anything bad on you. I don't want you to go to jail. I want the best for you because I know that's what both of them would want you to do. And the best would be if you give your life to Christ. And then he asked the judge if he could give Amber Geiger a hug. She allowed it. And that's what he did. about that. That level of forgiveness. You know, again, I keep using this word, unbelievable. As for Amber Geiger, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison and is up for parole, actually,

this year in 2024. Well, it's not easy. Crimes, they, you know, we talk about the law, we talk about evidence, we talk about witnesses, we talk about all that, but it's also about people, those who lost so much as a result of the horrible actions of others. That's all we have for you here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. Thank you.