Jaycee Dugard's Kidnapper Dealt Stern Words, Sentenced to Life in Prison
The convicted kidnappers and rapists of Jaycee Dugard -- who in 1991 was an 11 year old girl that was held captive for the next 18 years in a San Francisco suburb -- were sentenced on Thursday before a scolding judge, prosecutor and mother of the victim.
Philip Garrido, 60, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and repeatedly raping Dugard, was sentenced to 431 years to life.
His wife Nancy Garrido, 55, was sentenced to 36 years to life in prison. Both reached a plea deal in which they waived their right to appeal. The pair pleaded guilty in April.
I chose not to be here today because I refuse to waste another second of my life in your presence, Dugard wrote in a statement read by her mother in court in Placerville, California and directed to Phillip Garrido. Everything you ever did to me was wrong and I hope one day you will see that.
I hated every second of every day for 18 years, she wrote. You stole my life and that of my family.
To you Nancy, I have nothing to say, she wrote.
Vern Pierson, the El Dorado County district attorney said Garrido was a sexual predator who stole the childhood and innocence from an 11-year old child. Defendant Garrido's actions caused her mother Terry Probyn to have to endure an 18-year long nightmare.
Dugard was kidnapped while walking to a school bus stop within sight of her home.
Must Read: Jaycee Dugard recalls her nightmare: Kidnap, rape, babies and more (PHOTOS)
Her mother also addressed the court.
How could someone take away the one person in the world I loved so deeply? Where is she? Is she hungry? Is she cold? Is she hurt? My baby was gone and all my dreams turned to nightmares. She was a vulnerable child and I was unable to help her, Probyn said.
During 18 years away, I could hear her crying, not with my ears, but with my heart. I could feel her pain, not with my body, but with my heart, she said. It was you Nancy Garrido and Phillip Garrido that broke my heart.
Dugard was kidnapped while walking to a bus stop near her home in South Lake Tahoe, California on June 10, 1991 in front of her stepfather who attempted to catch the kidnappers on a bicycle but says couldn't catch up.
Philip Garrido was driving while his wife grabbed Dugard. They took her to the San Francisco suburb of Antioch where she was kept in a large backyard filled with tents for the duration.
Dugard eventually bore two daughters by Garrido after conceiving them at the ages of 13 and 16. Dugard and her daughters were discovered in August of 2009 after campus police at the University of California, Berkeley informed parole authorities of Phillip Garrido's suspicious activities and statements made at the school.
Garrido was spotted with the two children as he tried to enter the university to hand out religious literature. They questioned him and did a background check. At a parole meeting later where Dugard appeared, he admitted he had kidnapped her.
Garrido had previously served 11 years for rape of a casino worker in Nevada in 1976.
Nancy Garrido pleaded guilty to kidnapping and forcible rape.
You took a human being and turned them into chattel, Judge Douglas Phimister of El Dorado County Superior Court told Garrido. You reinvented slavery.
A lawyer for Nancy Garrido read a statement in court from his client stating that she believed being sorry is not enough and that she loved Dugard and her children.
I deserve every moment of the sentence, she said.
Dugard is currently living at an undisclosed location and plans to publish a memoir about her life in July. She reached a settlement with the State of California that authorities failed to properly monitor Garrido.
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Read: Jaycee Dugard Condemns Kidnappers, Recalls Twisted Life with Captors
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