Full hearing: Wife of fake DTE worker linked to Rochester Hills murder sentenced

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: no contact in pieces I just think okay good in the ground you're quite two days to back to an appeal if you can have a foreign attorney or to be appointed before if I leave this this is a plea of guilt council people please acknowledge [00:00:10] Speaker 2: those words good luck number 16 people the state of Michigan versus Amanda Hernandez case number 2026 297 088 FH date and time set for sentencing have you had an opportunity to view the PSI and injections corrections deletions to it [00:00:40] Speaker 3: did you give the typos to mr. Kaplan already I think [00:00:54] Speaker 1: I think you're going you're not going up first go ahead [00:01:04] Speaker 3: there's no additions and there'll be a couple family members that are going to speak for the times appropriate [00:01:11] Speaker 1: this is it [00:01:12] Speaker 3: oh yeah yeah yeah [00:01:33] Mary: oh [00:01:45] Speaker ?: ma'am you need to speak to me [00:01:57] Speaker 1: she knows you're talking to her but I need you to look at me okay all right could you please tell me your name linda [00:02:09] Mary: mary okay [00:02:10] Speaker 1: go ahead [00:02:11] Mary: okay amanda maybe instead of looking for the easy way to get a house with a big yard and if you and your husband had worked as hard as my husband did you might have had one without planning to rob us and getting my husband killed may you get the punishment you deserve for robbing me of the love of my life and the father of my children [00:02:36] Speaker 1: i will your honor [00:02:51] Speaker 5: good morning your honor and thank you for this opportunity um i've really struggled with this a little bit because i'm not even sure that uh miss hernandez deserves any words to be said to her um we've been in this court many times she hasn't even had the decency to look at us once as if we've wronged her instead of them wronging us but i do think i have things that i need to say my father hussein murray came to this country from lebanon with nothing he grew up poor didn't speak the language and maybe had a couple of hundred dollars to start a life but he refused to let his disadvantages hold him back and he worked hard harder than anyone i've ever seen or known to succeed to him success wasn't acquiring material things for himself but being the best provider that he could for his family he did that along with my mother over their 54-year marriage by giving their all and helping people when they needed it he loved his family with his whole heart mohi murray i'm his middle son he loved his family with his whole heart that's how he was for the things that were important to him he gave them everything he had he was he was a proud father of three sons a father-in-law to three great women and perhaps proudest of all a grandfather to 11 children grandchildren excuse me without exaggeration i can say that nothing gave him more joy than seeing my and my brother's families all together our family would gather at my parents house almost every sunday for dinner in the couple of years before he was murdered because of the grandkids schedules it was harder and harder for us to all be there every sunday but on the sunday before he was murdered five days before he was murdered we managed for the first time to all be together at the house at my parents house for dinner to celebrate my niece's birthday we had a house full of love and laughter but my father in particular was beaming he was so full of happiness to have everyone there we were all commenting to each other about how we hadn't seen him unhappy in a long time little did i know and little did we know that would be the last time i'd see my father little did any of us know that at the same time my father was overjoyed by our togetherness miss fernandez and her co-conspirators were plotting their scheme their scheme to invade my parents home and take what they spent a lifetime to build their scheme to attack them and take what wasn't theirs knowing it could end up in murder when i heard the text messages that were exchanged between the conspirators in the days leading up to their crime being read out in court in the other trial i literally felt sick miss fernandez said she hoped that she could get enough to get a house and she was only worried about what might happen to her husband and the other co-conspirator but not the people whose house they were invading how much arrogance and callousness does it take to think like that my parents worked hard and sacrificed for decades to build a life they just wanted to seal it for themselves rather than work for it regardless of who might get hurt or killed the truth is though regardless of what they could have even conceivably stolen we lost much more than that because of miss hernandez and her co-conspirators just one example my son's name is also hussein murray he is my father he is my father and mother's eldest grandchild and he's probably my father's namesake he got married on sunday to a wonderful woman who we are so happy to have in our family but because of them my father never got the chance to meet her or be at the wedding i could say without a doubt there's nothing more he would have wanted to see more in his life and they deprived him of that they deprived my son of being able to hug his grandfather on his wedding day and they deprived his other grandchildren of the same thing for their futures they deprived us all having a great man in our lives ever again i don't think i can describe what it was like trying to get ready for a wedding and thinking what i was going to say to my son while at the same time think about what i would say here today and making it all the worse is the rage inside of me from seeing miss hernandez so many times in court and again today without even the guts to look at us none of them have shown even the smallest bit of remorse or shame for what they did they're all disgusting excuses for human beings miss hernandez will get out someday but my mother will never have her husband or peace of mind back i and my brothers will never have my father back our children will never have her grandfather back and everyone who knew and loved my father is going to have a hole in their hearts forever she wouldn't look at us before maybe she'll look now and face what she did maybe she'll look at the family that's broken because of what she did maybe she'll look in the mirror and face what she is and maybe that'll have some effect on her but based on what i've seen and heard i doubt it i believe in god and maybe somehow someday she'll repent for what she did and get some mercy earthly justice isn't perfect she'll never get as much time as she actually deserves but god's justice is not imperfect her real day of reckoning will come and i hope that she thinks about how she wants to face it thank you this is my brother rahith my younger brother my older brother abu i appreciate you being here um [00:08:39] Speaker 1: seeing your older brother's pride um shows the legacy that your dad gave and that your mom opportunity that you're able to show emotions which has nothing to do with being masked it has to be a human being and missing something and i agree i can't imagine going from your son's wedding from last year and you did an excellent job and i think you did your great you've been very proud thank you so much for [00:09:06] Speaker 6: thank you thank you thank you i just like to say a few words your honor i'm rahith nun i'm the son of the you know son of the deceased um here we are two almost two years later and uh hasn't gotten really any easier it's not a day that goes by that i feel an intense loss and pain in my heart that whenever i think about my father there's always the stating of his murder and the suffering he went through and choking on his own blood and being bludgeoned to death in the basement alone worrying about what's going to happen to my mother after he's whatever's happening to him i can't even imagine what that felt like for him and that's something that i can't let go of and well no matter what length mr hernandez sentence is that will sentence for him and our pain and suffering will never end our loss is immense my father was not somebody who was a one or two times a year grandfather he was an everyday grandfather that you know basically we lived two streets over we saw him every day and you know nobody tells you when you lose something like this that not only is there the emotional pain but someone turns up the difficulty of deciding on life about 10 degrees and everything just gets harder um so i would just like the court to take into account that our suffering will never end and that that should be something that is going forward i think we're simply in such a thing thank you [00:10:48] Speaker ?: i appreciate it thank you very much all right now let's take those in thank you [00:10:57] Speaker 3: and maybe i owe an apology to the family because my instructor from the beginning of this case would have no contact that and that means no eye contact no verbal contact nothing so if she wasn't making That being said, I've talked to my client about hospital or two of us in the day. I think her anxiety is really good. We did have some longer discussions, not only during the PSI, but during the anesthesia's case. And I think we agree that nothing she could say today would ever be adequate in that way. Nothing that she does moving forward. The time that she's going to do, the efforts that she makes to ever replace a father, and certainly a husband, and a grandfather. She knows that. She's expressed that to you more than enough. She hopes that her prayers to the family are heard. That's the only thing that she can do at this point in time. And I know that if she were to have the ability to rewind time and change all this, she can't, obviously. And this is not for her. I don't think... I think her remorse is clear, at least based on my discussions with her. And I think moving forward, I think the sentence that the court agreed to and the contract the court agreed to is appropriate, and the amount of time she's going to be serving is appropriate. And she will be on a parole term after that, and she will have... I'm sorry, the court looks like a gift. [00:12:56] Speaker 1: You all had an agreement, yes, you got on the guidelines. I am correct. [00:13:01] Speaker 5: It was the COBS. It was the COBS. We knew what the guidelines were. I made sure they were kept there properly, and nothing is a surprise here. [00:13:08] Speaker 3: Caught me off to her, Judge. I apologize. Sure. But no, this was the COBS. I think it's appropriate. I think the council and I agree that this was appropriate under the circumstances. No one wanted to retry this case, certainly, but I'm asking the court to adopt because at this point in time, knowing that she's going to be serving a period of time. She's serving that away with her family, certainly with her son, who's going to do that more than anybody else, and I think that's going to be an impact. [00:13:36] Speaker 1: Mr. Hernandez, do you have anything to say to me? [00:13:41] Speaker 7: I just want to say that I do have my due to some things with the family. Like my lawyer said, and they found me just being cut down, everything. I regret every choice I've made since 2022 of marrying my husband and knowing who he was. [00:14:10] Speaker 1: So you take some responsibility. I didn't know anything about the case beyond the general public. I was just watching it on the news reports. DT, people who were as DT workers got into a home and someone was killed. It's when I read the PSI, because, again, I didn't preside over the murder truck. I read the text messages. Carlos' was, is, is your husband. Yes. Text messages between you and Carlos on your phone, September 27, 2024. You. I mean, be careful and come home. I, DT, I assume, means I don't care if you come home with nothing. I read that as if you knew what was going to happen. You knew that they were going to go into someone's home and take something that doesn't belong to them. So, you know that he's trying to post as some worker. At 11:57 hours, Amanda then states, "Be careful, even if we leave with nothing." At 11:58 hours, Amanda then states, "And I'm fascinated all of this is the text messages." What if he's not home? At 12:44 hours, Amanda writes, "Turn phone off when you're out, just in case." At 13:31 hours, Amanda writes, "I'm so nervous, but you guys seem to have it down, and I feel better now that you have a good getaway car." At 9:30, 24, September 3rd, 24, at 103 hours, Amanda writes, quote, "Can make Yogi, take it, do be doing all the work." At 105 hours, Amanda writes, "Makes me mad it's all on you, because you're the brains, and it doesn't seem to have a problem." At 142 hours, Amanda writes, "I know you're not going to take an actual DTE car." Apparently, all these messages were sent in the time frame of the theft of the truck that was used in the crime, as well as the stolen DTE car. October 1:24, you write, "The badges were delivered." October 8, 2025, you send a link to Carlos for a custom ID badge, Carlos responds, "Something like that, no pictures." He later writes a name to put on Yogi's, as well as stating, making him an inspector also. You reply, "I did." Later that same day, Carlos and Amanda both participate in conversation, obtaining enough money to purchase their own home. October 9, 2024. At 22:42 hours, Carlos sends again the address, an address of Detroit, close to where Amanda's in, picking up Carlos and someone else and admitting to that in their interview. At October 10, 2024, which is the date of the first visit to the victim's residence, you write, "You guys are going to, you guys are going to go this late." You further write, "Remember what I said, shit seems very GTFO." You further write, "We can go punch Mexicans." At 2016, you write, "Wear a mask when you get close." At 2022, you write, "You put the magnets on." At 2041, Carlos again sends the address up in Detroit, to which you respond, "That's where I go to get the food that's forward to the area where you pick up Carlos and Zuaz." At 12:29, you write, "You need me to pick you up." He responds, "Yes, we did good though." At 22:07, you write, "Be there in 12 minutes." So that's on the date that he basically goes in for the first time into the Murray home. October 11, the next day, which is the date of the homicide. At 9:17, Carlos writes to you, "Put the hard hats on the porch, please." At 9:19 hours, you write, "When do you this, when do you this, I'll have to do that in like two hours." At 12:05, writes here. So, the video evidence of you, again, picking up your husband. At 1543, you write, Carlos, a link to WXYZ Channel 7's story regarding the homicide. At 1547, you write, "What do you want to do?" He says, "We need to leave." So, September 24, 2024, you did a search for DTE 3 polls. On October 7, 2024, you do a search for DTE IP badges, DTE gas leak checklists, and a search for a copy of a waiver letter. October 9, 2024, you make multiple searches of the victim's address, as well as property records searches of other residents on the same street. I didn't realize there was much detail was involved in your involvement, and the defendant's description of the offense. When asked about the offense, the defendant stated, "I guess I married the wrong person." I was prestigious at that statement because I put the hard hats on the porch. You could have easily followed up that with, and I'm making a call to the police to tell them what you're planning. You looked for ID badges. You told them that. You could have followed that up with, "I made a call to the police to tell them what you're planning." You may have married the wrong person, but you were wholly involved in this. Wholly involved in this. You took some responsibility for the first time today. Which is the only reason I'll go with the agreement. "You may have married the wrong person, but you had zero problem making those searches, picking him up, making clear what was going on, when you were panicked, when you realized it went away, you didn't think it was going." I don't know how you're going to live with yourself. You'll get out eventually. But you are not an innocent victim. You are all in on this. And like I said, I had no idea exactly what you intend to look at. That's something you're going to have to do. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. [00:22:16] Speaker ?: I'm going to go ahead and see. [00:22:17] Speaker 3: I'm going to go ahead and see. [00:22:18] Speaker ?: I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. [00:22:27] Speaker 2: I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. [00:22:35] Speaker ?: I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. [00:22:38] Speaker 8: I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm asking the court. There's been an offer made. And I'm asking the court for a lawful hearing. To have the court. Lawful versus Cooper. For the prosecution to put the offer on the record. And for Mr. Beeler to either accept or reject it. Did you judge the offer yesterday I believe. [00:23:18] Speaker ?: I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. I'm going to go ahead and see. 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