Jerry Sandusky, ex-Penn State Coach, Guilty on 45 of 48 Sex Abuse Counts

He may not last long in jail...

ABC- Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky has been found guilty of nearly all of the allegations of child sex abuse leveled against him.




After 20 hours of sequestered deliberations, the jury of seven women and five men read 45 "guilty" verdicts late Friday as Sandusky stood and looked at the jury with his left hand in a pocket of his brown sport coat. There were three not-guilty verdicts.



One of the victims -- identified as Victim 6 during the proceedings -- was surrounded by his family and they cried as the verdict was read.



After court was adjourned, the former Penn State defensive coordinator was led in handcuffs to a waiting police car to be taken to the local county jail.



"The legal process has spoken and we have tremendous respect for the men who came forward to tell their stories publicly. No verdict can undo the pain and suffering caused by Mr. Sandusky, but we do hope this judgment helps the victims and their families along their path to healing," Penn State president Rodney Erickson said in a statement.



Sandusky likely will be sentenced to life in prison. He faces a maximum sentence of 442 years and will be sentenced in approximately 90 days.



Sandusky's wife, Dottie, looked forward stoically as the counts were read off and her husband repeatedly was found guilty. At one point, dozens of counts in, she started shaking her head.



Sandusky's daughter, Kara, broke down as her dad was handcuffed, and held her hand over her heart as her father walked out of court.


The jury found Sandusky not guilty of three sex abuse crimes, including the alleged rape of Victim 2, the boy assistant coach Mike McQueary said he saw being raped by Sandusky in a Penn State locker room shower in 2001. He was also acquitted of indecent assault on Victim 5, who testified in court, and Victim 8, who was the subject of an eyewitness account from a Penn State janitor.




Sandusky and his lawyers, along with prosecutors, had been summoned to court to hear the verdict. Assembled spectators shouted jeers such as "pervert" as Sandusky and his wife walked into the courthouse lit up by flashbulb bursts.



The crowd of hundreds outside the courthouse let out a cheer as word emerged that Sandusky was guilty.



After the verdict, Attorney General Linda Kelly said the jury believed that Sandusky "calculatingly and with meticulous planning mercilessly preyed" upon his victims.



"The jury here in Bellefonte, Pa., would and did believe a kid," she said, referring to testimony by Sandusky's victims. "I hope this outcome allows the victims to heal and encourages other victims to come forward."



Sandusky's attorney, Joe Amendola, said the defense plans to appeal the guilty verdicts, arguing it was not prepared to go to trial as soon as the judge ordered.



"The Sandusky family is very disappointed, obviously, by the verdict of the jury but we respect their verdict," he said. "We had a tidal wave of public opinion against Jerry Sandusky."



He added that Sandusky fully planned to testify in his own defense, but the plan to have him do so was scuttled when the prosecution threatened to have Matt Sandusky, his adopted son, testify as a rebuttal witness that he was molested by his father.



After the verdict, the family of the late Joe Paterno, the legendary Penn State head coach who was Sandusky's boss, released a statement.



"Although we understand the task of healing is just beginning, today's verdict is an important milestone," it read. "The community owes a measure of gratitude to the jurors for their diligent service. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and their families."

The two-week trial was remarkable for the graphic tales of abuse that ranged from Sandusky playing tickle monster in the shower to aggressive sex including oral and anal sex on boys as young as 8. At one point, jurors were brought to tears by the testimony of the alleged victims who are now grown men.




The defense scored some points back during week two of the trial by putting Sandusky's wife on the stand and hearing her testify that she never saw anything inappropriate between her husband and children and knew some of the accusers to have behavioral issues. They also poked holes in the stories of two lead investigators on the case by showing that the men told potential victims that others had already come forward claiming Sandusky raped them.



During 30 hours of testimony over two weeks, the jury heard from eight accusers, one eyewitness, a string of character witnesses testifying to Sandusky's character, and members of the police who investigated the case.




Two people the jury did not hear from include Sandusky himself, who waived his right to testify, and Sandusky's adopted son Matt. Matt Sandusky was one of his father's most ardent supporters following Sandusky's November arrest, but contacted prosecutors at the end of last week saying he was, in fact, a victim of his father's abuse and would be willing to testify, sources told ABC News. The prosecution did not put him on the stand, and the revelations about Matt Sandusky's willingness to testify are not known by the jury and will not factor into deliberations.

At Sentencing Will DiMeo Apologize?

CT Post- Barbara Caggiano doesn't recall Christopher DiMeo apologizing to her and her family and even if he did, it wouldn't have made a difference.

"I mean, what was he going to say? `Hey I'm sorry I killed your son-in-law, now please forgive me?' " Caggiano said.

On Aug. 26, 2005, DiMeo was sentenced in New York to life in prison without release for the December 2004 murder of Thomas Renison during the robbery of Renison's Glen Head, N.Y., jewelry store.

On May 6, DiMeo is to be sentenced in Superior Court here for the Feb. 2, 2005, murders of Fairfield jewelers Tim and Kim Donnelly.

As in New York, DiMeo will be receiving a prison term of life without the possibility of release.

As a result of the jury's verdict, Judge Robert Devlin's hands are tied. He can only sentence DiMeo to life without the possibility of release and nothing DiMeo may or may not say at the hearing can affect that.But as he did in New York, DiMeo is expected to say something to Donnelly family members in the courtroom.

DiMeo made a long scripted-sounding speech during the New York sentencing hearing characterized in court by Senior Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Corradino as a remorseless "tale of woe."

"First off and most importantly, I would like to express to Mr. Renison's family, that I'm very sorry for the extreme and ultimate loss that I have caused them," he began. "I know that to hear words could never help diminish the severe pain that I've caused; but I hope at the same time that me serving the rest of my life in prison gives them some sort of closure. I also know that nothing I say or do could ever change the pain they feel. All I can tell them is that my apology is sincere and heartfelt."

Then DiMeo launched into a nearly 900-word speech about his poor upbringing and the dangers of using heroin.

But for Caggiano, and her family, it made no difference.

"What he said didn't give me any closure, I'll never have closure," she said. "It's just lucky that the police got him when they did or he would have killed more people."

Bridgeport drug kingpin Russell Peeler Jr. was in the same position as DiMeo as he stood before Devlin in December 2007 to be sentenced to death for ordering the 1999 murders of 8-year-old Leroy "B.J." Brown and his mother, Karen Clarke. But he didn't apologize.

"This whole process has been a farce!" Peeler shouted. "I had nothing to do with killing these people. He (former State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict) opened up his checkbook to prosecute me. I had nothing to do with killing these people ... This prosecutor, Mr. Benedict, is the wickedest person ever."

But his statement had no effect on the sentence; Peeler sits on death row.

Benedict and others say while it is a criminal's right to have their say, it may only mean something to the family of the victim.

"If the jury has found for death, or even in cases where the jury has reached a decision for life without parole, it's an automatic punishment," Benedict said. "So what the defendant has to say at the time of sentencing is interesting, but it can in no way affect the outcome."

He said it would be interesting to see whether DiMeo does say something at his sentencing hearing. "He could say something that conceivably could help the victims' family with closure,'' he said, "but I don't expect it."

Victim Slams '40-Year-Old Virgin' Actor Who Repeatedly Stabbed Her

(CNN) -- A California woman stabbed repeatedly by her then-boyfriend, a comedic Hollywood actor, on Friday described his courtroom antics explaining his violence as "very surreal and bizarre" -- and, above all, insincere.

"In his testimony, he stated that it was the knife that did it, and he stated this repeatedly," Kendra Beebe told HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell. "In fact it wasn't the knife that stabbed me 23 times. It was Shelley Malil."

One day earlier, San Diego, California, County Superior Court Judge Harry Elias sentenced Malil to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Five years ago, the actor was cracking up audiences as an electronics store clerk in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." But in August 2008, he was arrested in North County, California and charged with stabbing Beebe.

Earlier this fall, a California jury found him guilty of premeditated attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. He was found not guilty of burglary.

Malil received near the maximum sentence for his convictions. But his former girlfriend said that, while she was pleased with the jury's verdict, she still doesn't think the punishment was severe enough.


"I feel like I did get justice in our system. But is the system fair and just? I don't think so," Beebe said.

Beebe survived the attack, despite having her chin severely cut, two collapsed lungs and losing about half the blood in her body, her attorney Gloria Allred told HLN on Friday.

In September, she testified that she'd initially thought that Malil was going to hug her when he approached her in her home, as her young children slept upstairs, that summer night. But instead, he began cutting her repeatedly with a knife -- a fact that Malil did not deny.

"I saw this flashing silver, and he goes bang, bang, bang," Beebe said in court.

The Indian-born actor -- who, according to the Internet Movie Database, has appeared in at least 54 movies and television projects, from Budweiser commercials, to guest appearances on "Scrubs" and "Reba," to his break-out performance as Steve Carell's co-worker Haziz in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" -- testified that he stabbed his girlfriend by mistake, thinking he was defending her.

On Thursday, he apologized in court.

"For what I did to Kendra, I don't even have the words to express my remorse or my feeling sorry. Kendra Beebe did not deserve anything that happened to her," Malil said.

Malil's 19-year-old niece, Anjali Varghese, testified at the sentencing hearing that her uncle's "crime was not a result of any kind of ingrained malice, because that's not his nature."

Yet Beebe said that the actor's testimony left her unconvinced, feeling "so frustrated and angry."

"It was horrible," she said. "He sure lied and lied and lied on the stand."

Elizabeth Smart Says She's 'Thrilled' After Guilty Verdict

SALT LAKE CITY — Elizabeth Smart waited more than eight years for the word she heard Friday.

"Guilty," after a federal jury deliberated five hours to convict street preacher Brian David Mitchell of snatching Smart from her bed, at knifepoint in the dead of night, and having sex with her while he held her captive for nine months.

Smart smiled as the verdict was read, while a bedraggled, bearded Mitchell sat at the defense table, singing hymns with his hands before his chest, as if in prayer.

“Today is a wonderful day,” Smart said outside the courthouse hours later, adding “I am so thrilled to be here, so thrilled of the verdict."

"I hope that not only is this an example that justice can be served in America, but that it is possible to move on after something terrible has happened," Smart said.

It was a dramatic end to a tale that captured the nation's attention since she disappeared in June 2002: A 14-year-old girl mysteriously taken from her home, the intense search and her eventual discovery walking Salt Lake City's streets with her captors.

Smart, now 23, flew back from her Mormon mission in Paris to take the stand, and recount her "nine months of hell."

"The beginning and the end of this story is attributable to a woman with extraordinary courage and extraordinary determination, and that's Elizabeth Smart," federal prosecutor Carlie Christensen said outside the courthouse.

"She did it with candor and clarity and a truthfulness that I think moved all of us," she said.

Smart described in excruciating detail how she woke up one night to the feel of a cold, jagged knife at her throat and being whisked away by Mitchell to his camp in the foothills near the family's Salt Lake City home.

Within hours of the kidnapping, she testified, she was forced into a polygamous marriage with him. She was tethered to a metal cable and subjected to near-daily rapes while being forced to use alcohol and drugs.

The five-week trial turned on the question of Mitchell's mental health.

The thinly built, gray-haired Mitchell was routinely removed from the courtroom after loudly singing hymns and Christmas carols and taken to another room to watch the proceedings on closed circuit TV.

He kept his eyes closed in court and never spoke to anyone, including his lawyers.

His lawyers did not dispute that he kidnapped Smart but wanted him to be found not guilty by reason of insanity. Such a verdict would have sent him to a prison mental hospital.

Prosecutors countered that Mitchell was faking mental illness to avoid a conviction, labeling him a "predatory chameleon."

Smart testified she believed Mitchell was driven by his desire for sex, drugs and alcohol, not by any sincere religious beliefs.

Jurors did not buy the insanity defense, deliberating for roughly five hours to find him guilty of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for the purposes of sex.

As the verdicts were read, the shackled Mitchell sat singing about Jesus Christ on the cross. Smart then turned to her mother and both smiled. Elizabeth Smart later hugged prosecutors.

"It's real!" father Ed Smart said on his way out of the packed courtroom, giving a thumbs up.

Smart and her family had hoped for the guilty verdict and a long sentence.

"(Mitchell) has left a trail of misery behind him," Ed Smart said.

Mitchell could face up to life in prison when he is sentenced on May 25. However, a judge also could impose an unspecified, lesser sentence, prosecutors said.

To the chagrin of the family, the case was delayed for years after Mitchell was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in state court and a judge refused to order involuntary medications.

Federal prosecutors later stepped in and took the case to trial.

Christensen, the U.S. attorney, said one of the biggest challenges of the case was the six years between the time of the kidnapping and the time the case came into the federal justice system.

A parade of experts took the witness stand to say Mitchell had an array of diagnoses, from a rare delusional disorder and schizophrenia to pedophilia, anti-social personality disorder and narcissism.

Mitchell's former stepdaughter told reporters that she was shocked that jurors didn't see that he was mentally ill.

"He honestly believes God tells him to do these things," Rebecca Woodridge said. "He's upset and frustrated that the Lord is making him go through this."

INSIDE STORY: Clues to Why Melissa Huckaby Murdered an 8-Year-Old Girl

People.com(June 2010)- The day 8-year-old Sandra Cantu disappeared from a Tracy, Calif., mobile-home park, Melissa Huckaby sent a text message to the child's mother.

"Tell the police that I had something stolen today around 4 p.m.," Huckaby texted to Maria Chavez on March 27, 2009. "I don't know if that makes a difference or not."

That stolen item turned out to be an Eddie Bauer suitcase that contained Cantu’s body, the victim of a brutal sexual assault and murder.

The case horrified the Central California community, but even after Huckaby pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison, residents were at loss as to why the Sunday school teacher committed such a heinous crime against her own daughter's playmate.

Now, with thousands of pages of previously sealed documents released and the lifting of a gag order, authorities are offering a theory: The bizarre text message and Huckaby's subsequent strange behavior suggested she killed the child in an attempt to attract attention to herself.

A Theory for Motive
Such behavior has a name: Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, a form of child abuse, in which a person harms somebody else, often children, for attention. The prosecutor in the case noted that Huckaby's daughter may also have fallen victim: the child had a history of being sick and in need of hospital care way too often.

"There were 20 or so times that Melissa cut herself, set fires, or verbally or psychologically attacked someone else, such as a roommate," says Deputy District Attorney Thomas Tesla. "And there was something like that going on here (after the murder), where she wanted to be the center of attention."

The text message was just one clue. Also, the day after Sandra disappeared, Huckaby was hysterical and hyperventilating as she went to police to say she had found a note on lined notebook paper.

Newly Revealed Evidence
The misspelled message stated Sandra's body was locked in a stolen suitcase thrown in water at Bacchetti and Whitehall roads. "I wonder if she wanted to be the one who solved the case by finding the note," Tesla suggests.

Investigators thought it unusual that a woman who reported losing a suitcase "should be the one woman out of everyone in this complex who should happen to find a note that reports that the stolen suitcase was used to hide the child's body," FBI Special Agent Michael Conrad would testify in the grand jury, according to transcripts.

During an April 6 search of Huckaby's home after the suitcase was recovered, FBI agents found a notebook with "Cute but psycho. Things will even out" printed on the cover. On the pages they found indentations matching the letters from the note.

"It didn’t take an FBI expert to figure this out," Tesla says. "She has a distinctive way of writing certain letters. You can compare it to her known handwriting… and tell as a layperson that they’re written by the same person."

When confronted with the mounting evidence, court documents show, Huckaby offered a confession of sorts, saying that Cantu hid in the suitcase in Huckaby’s trailer as part of a game, but stayed inside too long and suffocated. Huckaby also offered a soft version of the events at her sentencing, saying Sandra "didn't suffer. I didn't sexually molest her."

But, Tesla contends, forensic evidence offers a grimmer version of the crime: Huckaby took Cantu to her grandfather’s nearby church, sexually molested her with a rolling pin, strangled her and stuffed her into the suitcase in a snug fetal position that Cantu couldn’t have squeezed into on her own. Huckaby then tossed the suitcase into an agricultural ditch that stunk so badly of manure that searchers couldn’t retrieve the suitcase until it eventually floated to the surface.

In the first few days of the investigation, detectives assumed the killer was a man. They trailed local sex offenders and investigated their alibis. Says Tesla: "We thought there was no way a woman would do these things."

Defense: Life Sentence 'Worse than Death' for Home Invasion Killer

New Haven, Connecticut (CNN) -- A Connecticut jury begins deliberations Friday on whether Steven Hayes should be sentenced to life in prison or put to death.

Hayes was convicted of killing two sisters and their mother during a 2007 home invasion. Tom Ullmann, Hayes' lawyer, told jurors on Thursday his client would suffer more if given a life sentence.

"Life in prison without the possibility of release is the harshest penalty," said Tom Ullmann. "It is a fate worse than death."

Ullmann then had his 47-year-old client stand directly in front of the jury, put his hand on Hayes' shoulder and said to the five men and seven women, "He isn't a rabid dog that needs to be put to death. He has lost 80 pounds. He will never have a private bath. He goes to the bathroom in public. He will never eat a dinner that he makes but one that they provide. He has a rec cage for an hour a day. Like an animal at the zoo."

As he stood, Hayes -- who did not testify during the trial -- looked down at the floor.

His lawyer continued, "If you want to end his misery, put him to death. ... If you want him to suffer and carry that burden forever, the guilt, shame and humiliation, sentence him to life without the possibility of release."

But prosecuting attorney Michael Dearington sought to persuade the jurors to order Hayes be executed for his role in in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley Petit and 11-year-old Michaela Petit.

"We cannot tie Steven Hayes to a bed, pour gasoline on him and set him on fire," Dearington said, referring to the killings. "But under our laws, we do have the death penalty."

He added that the Petit family had been "destroyed because Steven Hayes wanted money."

Superior Court Judge Jon Blue then read a 36-page charge and verdict form to the jury.

A psychiatrist testified in October that Hayes had told him, "I would rather they kill me," reflecting Hayes' apparent hope that he'd be executed.

The high school dropout said he had a long history of substance abuse, the psychiatrist said.

But Dearington said Thursday that that did not excuse the murders. "Drugs don't necessarily lead to violent crimes," he said.

Hayes was convicted of 16 of the 17 charges against him, including nine counts of murder and capital murder and four counts of kidnapping.

Prosecutors allege that Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky invaded the Petit home in Cheshire, beat Dr. William Petit, raped and strangled his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, sexually molested one of their two daughters, set the house afire and tried to flee.

The girls died of smoke inhalation; Petit himself escaped to a neighbor's home.

Komisarjevsky is to be tried separately.

In March, Hayes said he no longer wanted to commit suicide "but intended to let the state do it," a psychiatrist testified.

Alleged Kidnapper Couple Met While Man Was in Prison

(CNN) -- Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, met while he was in a federal prison serving time for abducting a different woman from South Lake Tahoe, California, and holding her captive in a storage unit, Nevada probation and parole officials said Friday.

Details of Phillip Garrido's past began to emerge after he and his wife were charged with crimes relating to the abduction of 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard in 1991 and her captivity in a hidden shed-and-tent compound in the couple's backyard in Antioch, California. Phillip Garrido, 58, and Nancy Garrido, 54, face 29 felony charges relating to Dugard's kidnapping. They both pleaded not guilty.

Garrido's record as a registered sex offender began with a 1977 conviction on charges of kidnapping and rape of a South Lake Tahoe woman, the Nevada Department of Public Safety's Division of Parole and Probation said in a press release.

The victim was found with Garrido inside a mini warehouse, a type of small storage facility, in Reno. Nevada, according to court documents from Garrido's appeal. She was raped inside the storage unit, according to the documents.

The woman, a 25-year-old casino worker, picked up Garrido at a supermarket near Lake Tahoe on Nov. 22, 1976, after he asked her for a ride. The documents state that when she stopped the car to drop him off, Garrido handcuffed her, bound her legs and neck with a leather strap, and drove off with her to Reno.

Garrido, then 25, "told the victim it wasn't intentional that he had taken her, but that it was her fault because she was attractive," according to the documents.

Garrido served 11 years of a 50-year sentence in Levenworth, Kansas.

Parole officials said he met his wife, Nancy, while he was in prison, but they didn't give details.

Garrido's life began to spiral downward in high school, his father, Manuel Garrido, told CNN.

"He had a motorcycle accident and got on LSD and he's not in his right mind," Manuel Garrido said. "He was in a bad accident and hit his head and then got on LSD in high school. That was the end. He went to selling dope. He went crazy."

Though he hasn't spoken to his son for 20 years because they "didn't get along" and has never been to the home where his son is accused of holding Dugard, Manuel Garrido said he wasn't surprised to hear about accusations.

"I wasn't surprised because I know he's out of his head for God's sakes," he said. "He was an angel when he was young and it's a damn shame."

Phillip Garrido's father also said his son believes "he talks to God and he can do things."

And Garrido apparently maintained a blog where he discussed talking to God and also claimed he could control sound with his mind.

The blog now has profanity-laced responses from people outraged over Phillip Garrido's alleged actions.
Garrido's blog entries are posted by "THEMANWHOSPOKEWITHHISMIND." He refers to "God's Desire," which is a church based out of his home in Antioch, according to CNN affiliate KCRA of Sacramento.

In a post on August 14, he writes that during a "powerful demonstration" in July in Pittsburg, California, "the Creator has given me the ability to speak in the tongue of angels in order to provide a wake-up call that will in time include the salvation of the entire world."

"You too can witness what the world believe's [sic] is impossible to produce!" he writes, providing an e-mail address. "DON'T MISS OUT!"

Several news outlets, including The New York Times, have reported on the blog since the case started making international headlines Thursday.

In another blog posting last year, Garrido claims to have a "new insight that has the potential of helping people who hear voices to possibly stop and re-examine their thinking before committing a violent act on themselves and/or others."

Monroeville High School Girl's Ex Found Guilty Of Her Murder

PITTSBURGH -- A young Monroeville man who repeatedly stabbed ex-girlfriend Demi Cuccia after a desperate, daylong exchange of text messages about the status of their relationship was found guilty of first-degree murder Monday.

"My daughter was brutally murdered and nobody deserves to die like that," Gary Cuccia said outside Judge Jeffrey Manning's courtroom, after the verdict was announced.

An Allegheny County jury took about two hours to reach its decision in the case against 20-year-old John Mullarkey, who attacked the 16-year-old Cuccia in her Elliott Road home in August 2007.

Mullarkey chose not to speak before Manning sentenced him to life in prison with no parole.

"Everybody has to be held accountable for what we do in this life, and I believe he's still got a lot in store for him," Gary Cuccia said.

Deputy District Attorney Mark Tranquilli said the victim, a student at Gateway High School, was stabbed 16 times on the day after her birthday by the man who claimed to love her.

An autopsy showed that, while the Gateway cheerleader was stabbed many times, the wound that killed her was one that was made to her left shoulder and severed an artery.

Cuccia's grandmother, Carole Roberts, told reporters that Mullarkey is a "despicable, evil monster," and the girl's mother, Jodi, said, "I've been critically wounded -- as have my family -- from this horrific tragedy, and the painful scars run long and deep."

Last week, jurors were shown text messages -- including one that said, "You no you love me and can't live without me" -- from the day of Cuccia's slaying and the days leading up to it that revealed the couple's tumultuous relationship.

Teen Who Killed Mother Over Video Game Gets 23 Years to Life

ELYRIA, Ohio - A Lorain County teenager who shot and killed his mother and wounded his father after they took away his video game learned his punishment Tuesday morning.

Lorain County Court of Common Pleas Judge James Burge sentenced Daniel Petric, 17, to life in prison with the eligibility of parole in 23 years. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum penalty of life in prison without parole.

"I remain fearful if Danny gets out of prison and somebody else takes away his new pasttime, whether it's a girlfriend that leaves him, this may be the next thing that happens," assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Tony Cillo told the judge.

"Daniel Petric received the only break that he's entitled to under the law, that he was too young to risk a death specification," said Cillo.

Petric, who was 16 at the time, was convicted of shooting both his parents in the head in October 2007 inside their home near Wellington. Susan Petric, 43, died. His father -- the Rev. Mark Petric, 45 -- miraculously survived.

Prosecutors say he told them "Close your eyes, I've got a surprise for you," before shooting them, and then tried to make it look like a murder-suicide.

Petric, who was tried as an adult, held back tears at times during the hearing. He stood to address the judge, but then sat down without speaking.

Defense attorneys argued that Petric's youth and addiction to the game "Halo 3" made him less responsible for the shooting. They say he often played video games 18 hours a day with little food or sleep. They say he may have been so obsessed with the game, where players shoot alien monsters that have taken over the Earth, that he didn't think death was real.

"The playing of the video games and the reality of shooting somebody in his case was blinded, it was merged," defense attorney James Kersey told the court. "He had no thoughts during this process. During this time, he was blinded that his parents might be dead, that they might never come back."

"His addiction was so strong, was running rampant in a tired, exhausted young man, that anybody or anything that stood between him playing the video game and not having his way was in peril," Kersey added.

Petric's father addressed the court, asking Judge Burge to give him a lenient sentence.

"I can't count the number of times that he's said, 'Dad I miss mom, I miss mom.' His pain runs very deep, and it should ... if his pain did not run deep, I guarantee you I would not be standing here speaking on his behalf," the Rev. Petric told the judge.

"I love you Danny," said the Rev. Petric, through tears. "I can see the pain and the guilt inside when I visit him. I look in his eyes and I see it, I see the sadness, I see the concern. He still does not understand why he did something so terrible, but he does admit to it and he admits that it was terrible."

Judge Burge addressed the issue of video game addiction during sentencing, and said that it was a factor in his final decision. He says he hopes more study will be done on the topic.

"I feel confident that if there were no such thing as violent video games, I wouldn't know Daniel Petric," he said.

The Petric family did not speak to reporters after the hearing. Daniel's attorney says that although they feel the sentence is too long, they are satisfied with it.

"They feel it could've been worse," said Kersey.

Life for Pregnant Briton in Laos Trial

(CNN) -- A pregnant British woman accused of trying to smuggle heroin onto a flight to Thailand from Laos was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison.

Samantha Orobator, 20, was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced after a three-hour trial, an official in the southeast Asian country said. He declined to give his name because he is not authorized to talk to foreign media.

Orobator's mother was in the courtroom, he said.

The British Foreign Office also confirmed Orobator's sentence.

She was jailed last August at the airport in the Lao capital, Vientiane, and charged with carrying about half a kilogram of heroin.

London and Vientiane signed a prisoner transfer agreement last month, the Foreign Office said.

But it does not kick in automatically at this point, a Foreign Office representative told CNN.

"Before transfer can take place, the sentence must be final with no appeals or legal processes outstanding," the representative said, declining to be named in line with policy.

"Both states and the prisoner have to consent to a transfer. We are seeking access to Samantha" and will ask her "how she wants to proceed."

Orobator is more than five months pregnant, and enters her third trimester on Saturday.

The circumstances under which she became pregnant in prison remain unclear.

She told her mother she was not raped in prison and that the father is not a Lao prison official.

A newspaper run by the Lao government reported Orobator as saying she impregnated herself with the sperm of another prisoner being held in the same jail.