Bride Breaks Down During Sentencing in Best Man’s Death

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Have you had an opportunity to review your pre-sentence investigation report with your client? We have, Your Honor. Any additions, corrections, or deletions to the report? None, Your Honor. Mr. Ross? [00:00:09] Speaker 2: None of these does no additions, corrections, or other kind of additional. Thank you. [00:00:13] Speaker 3: Elocution? Your Honor. I'm sorry. Nothing for you, Mr. Ross? I'm sorry. I'm a little off because we've been thinking about this and we've been talking about this situation. Really, in reality, what is there to say? We've got just a horrific tragedy that occurred on a really, what was supposed to be a joyous day for my client. It was supposed to be what every little girl's dream was, to get married and have their wedding day. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out this way. And I saw a little bit of it in the paper on MLive or something when it first happened. And I got a call and, lo and behold, I knew of Savannah from her father because we played football at Central together. I'd known him for, I don't know, 30, 40 years. And so they gave me a call, came in the office, I had no idea what this would be about. I knew of Savannah, but this was the first time I had met her, her brother who was here in the courtroom today, her mother who was in the courtroom today, and her father. We all met in the courtroom that we all met in my office and she was in hysterics. It's only four days afterwards, still in hysterics. And I had no idea what we were even meeting about and I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. And I was glad that Savannah did the right thing by turning herself in within 24 hours. But unfortunately, she didn't call 911 when she had the opportunity, that's why we end up here today. But when I mentioned the three individuals that were at the meeting, there's one missing. And after we left my conference room, her father took her other brother out shopping in Clio that afternoon. And he saw the police feed on Facebook that showed his daughter and the co-defendant's faces on Facebook and what they were charged with. Her father, my friend, subsequently, right then and there, had a heart attack and died on the same day that they were in my office. Savannah has suffered two significant losses, a loss of a friend, a loss of a husband, and a loss of a father in a four-day time period. That's a lot for a 21-year-old to handle. It's a lot for a 56-year-old to handle. Since then, she has progressed, crying less, less hysterics, month by month by month. And I said, Savannah, all we can do is move forward, move forward, move forward. The cash will take care of itself. Your life will move on forward, forward, forward. That's Savannah King. And I'm so proud of her because that's what she has done. She's drastically improved her employment life. More importantly, she's established her own home all by herself, on her own, with no interference from anybody else, with no help from anybody else. She's doing this on her own. And honestly, I think it's been quite therapeutic for her to take these steps in her life at such a young age. She never wanted this to happen on her day. I don't want to be selfish about it. If somebody passed away here and it was a friend of hers, and all the people involved were all good friends for a long period of time. But this is not where you want your wedding day to end up. And it's extremely unfortunate. But I can't emphasize enough how proud I am of Savannah and the way that she's come through to this stage. And Ms. Kruger has mentioned to her about therapy, and I have as well. And she's going to indulge and follow through with that. I told her how valuable it is. Ms. Kruger told her how valuable it is. She's got a long way to go yet, Judge. She really does. But it's so, so nice to see that first smile when I saw her months and months ago. And she finally smiled. And with that, I'll let Savannah say what she needs to. [00:04:53] Speaker 1: Madam, can I have you raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm the testimony you provide today? Is the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth? State your name, please. State your name. Thank you. And Ms. Shira, what would you like to say? [00:05:12] Savannah King: Okay. I don't really know where to start. Never in a million years would I have expected what happened to happen. I didn't just lose Terry that night. I lost everything that night. I lost my home. My house got broken in two. They stole my car. I lost my husband. I lost my family. My cousin won't talk to me. The kids that she's having today, I will never be able to get to meet them. But all I have been doing is trying to keep going and pick my pieces back up. I have really, really hard days sometimes. All I can do is think about them and what happened and if I could change something, I would have. And it turned to be the best night in my life. And it turned to be outdoors. It changed my life. And most things change your life for the better and I don't know what that changed my life for. I wish it would have never happened. I miss them all. I miss everybody. [00:07:01] Speaker 1: Thank you. Mr. Ross. [00:07:04] Speaker 2: I mean, I think they all spoke to Mr. Shira's sentence a couple of weeks ago. I will simply say this and I understand Ms. Shira lost a lot. Mr. Taylor lost his life. Did Ms. Shira kill him? No, she didn't. That's her husband. We dealt with that. But she did nothing to help. She knew that Nikki was there based on the testimony we had and that she had no phone. The phone was broke. She saw her husband run him over, high rate of speed, down on the street. She got in the car, had a phone, didn't bother calling 911. Do anything else. Judge him. And they dropped the car off and they did turn herself in the next day. She did do that. But I will say this. She does look like she's made steps. I'll give her that. She seems like she's working and moved on. The recommendation is heightened. People don't object. I just want that out there for that. So we're not objecting to the recommendation. We're heightened. [00:08:06] Speaker 3: Judge, there's only one thing I need to correct with Mr. Ross' statement. She did not see visually the incident occur. That was testified to with the plea if the court recalls. And I think Mr. Ross would agree with that. [00:08:25] Speaker 2: She did not see it. [00:08:34] Speaker 3: Nonetheless, Judge, we'd ask that you follow the recommendation. And Grant, my client, the height of status, she's going to follow through. Basically, Judge, I wouldn't this case start a year and a half ago, even more. She's been on probation for a year and a half, being a bond, albeit. But she's done the steps that probation would be asking her to do on her own during this period of time. So we'd ask that you put her on the height of status for a period of one year on probation. Let her get through this and let this young lady live a life. Thank you. Thank you. [00:09:11] Speaker 1: Ms. Shira, I cannot imagine a worse outcome on one of those milestone moments in life. The actions of Mr. Shira were not your fault. They have, however, become your problem. I understand that incidents like this tend to cause people to take sides. And you may be feeling the brunt of that from family and or former friends. Hopefully, when you get some distance from this, things will change. The court reviewed the CCTV footage of the incident extensively. And the court was more than convinced that a murder took place on that night and was comfortable with the sentence associated with that. I can understand the actions that you took. They were still in violation of law. That said, again, you are the least common denominator with respect to any intentional, unlawful action. And I believe that the recommendation fits that. There is a recommendation that you be placed on a period of probation for 24 months with no objection to Holmes Youthful Trainee Act. The court will adopt that recommendation. 24 months probation. At the end of that, if you are incident-free, you have an opportunity to have this matter be dismissed in its entirety. Do you understand that your counsel asks for one year? I think the two years is appropriate in large part because probation can be of great assistance if you choose to see it that way. Not only in helping you not to commit further unlawful acts, which I don't believe is a risk here, but they can help you move forward. And I suggest that you work strongly with your probation agent to figure out how to best get some distance from this because you're right. You don't know if this change will be worthwhile. You don't know when does. But if you take advantage of it, it may just in all this negative, there may be something that comes out positive for you, not just the dismissal of the charges. Council approach. Yes, Your Honor. Now, I'm handing your attorney your notice of a couple of rights. You'll receive one copy that you'll sign. The other copy will stay with you for your records. There is a $130 crime victim rights fee, $68 minimum cost. You will receive credit for four days in custody and any associated costs. I believe $30 per month supervision fee. [00:12:23] Speaker 3: You don't have to sign it. Yeah, that's your copy. Judge, she's received the captures, executed her appellate rights. Those are material to the bench. [00:12:31] Speaker 1: Thank you. Orders and receipt of the sign. Those are appellate rights. Council, anything for you? [00:12:34] Speaker 2: No, I have to be able to thank you. [00:12:36] Speaker 3: No, Judge, thanks a lot for your consideration in this matter and your time put into it. [00:12:41] Speaker 1: Appreciate it. So does Ms. Collier. Ma'am, it gave the court no pleasure to separate you from your husband, but again, not your fault. It certainly wasn't the court's. I hope you can move forward. [00:12:53] Speaker ?: I hope you can move forward. [00:12:54] Speaker 1: Best of luck to you. Thank you, Judge. Thank you. [00:13:01] Speaker ?: Bye.