My wife's impact statement at the sentencing of the two murderers.
Your hands and joint consent murdered our son and brother Justin. Norman Pelfrey, and Lee Pennington were murdered by your hands and joint consent. What did Justin, Norman and Lee say when pleading for their lives? Did you hear Justin, Norman and Lee and see their terror? Why didn’t you listen? Now we are asked to listen to your plea for your own lives?
We have been told that you can’t remember the night you murdered Justin. I remember it well. Henry drove 2 blocks from our house to Mancino’s about 11:30 PM, as Justin wasn’t home from work yet. There were police cars, crime scene tape in front of the store, police officers flashing spotlights on him questioning who he was. He was told there had been a robbery and to go to the police station; he was told there were 2 people working at Mancino’s when it was robbed, one was on a delivery and they thought one may be deceased. Justin’s dad called me crying to tell me. Henry went to the hospital alone and identified his own son Justin, with a bullet in his head. Justin and his dad had a special father-son bond. Justin had his dad’s wit, his thirst for knowledge and wanted to learn how to be a man from his dad. But now his son, Justin, was dead.
Your confessions stated you were checking into the Red Roof Inn in Roseville and ordered a pizza at this time.
Justin’s older sister Leah, whom you know, was just 18. She was living on her own with a girlfriend. Justin and his friend Ty stayed overnight at Leah’s one time; they were teenagers growing up, the normal stages of life. Then it was October 21, 2000. Justin’s dad and I agonized at the hospital whether or not to let Leah see Justin like this, how would we tell her? Leah drove back home with a friend at 1 or 2 AM, stood screaming in the driveway—”no, he is not dead”. Our lives were hell on earth in an instant, by the decision you each made. Leah and Justin, brother/sister, would never again talk, laugh, make jokes, or fight again. Only tears. Leah’s brother, Justin was dead.
I thought we needed to start making phone calls to tell family and friends that Justin was dead. We now had to speak the words “Justin was shot to death at work”. You gave is this new reality, our new life, our new “normal”. You have put us into living Hell on earth.
Our son, Trevor was 11 years old when you chose to murder his older brother, Justin. We woke him up at 3, 4 or 5 AM from a sound sleep. The house was full of people. He was sick to his stomach, laying on the hallway floor, not wanting to hear this or see anybody. Everybody wanted to comfort him, hug him. But his brother Justin was dead. Trevor and Justin had a special bond. Justin was Trevor’s older brother. He learned from him, shared a room with him, played sports with him.
There is no cure for your what you have done. Henry, Leah, Trevor and I each went into our own separate worlds; a division in our family that we are still trying to heal.
Who else had knowledge of what happened? Where did you get your drugs? We have heard about “Joe” from Algonac. Dennis Bryan, your parents told us on April 7, 2005 that you told them the other boys from this area were involved in the murder of Justin. Dennis Bryan, your mom called me as recently as October 2005 after you were brought back to MI saying you wanted to tell about all the others involved. Has she been making this up all these years? Baumann, your lie detector test was inconclusive when you were asked if you knew Daniels, Kaled and Kuecken. And we have 2 people who saw Kaled at a party down off Jefferson about 10:55 PM the night of October 21, a party he didn’t belong at. These people passed lie detector tests about their statements. You both repeatedly stated your innocence in Justin’s murder to the police. Then somehow you suddenly felt the need to do the right thing and confess just after the 3 moms from Michigan went down south and right before sentencing in VA?
