Killer Smiles at Sentencing for Double Murder — Full Hearing

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: yeah go ahead calling case numbers 25-0-0-3-8-5-1-0-1-fc and 2-5-0-0-3-8-5-7-0-1-fc in the matter of the people of the state of michigan versus mr desmond burks today is day for two sentencing appearances please good morning your honor lisa lindsey [00:00:28] Mike Glenn: on behalf of people state michigan p number 39570 good morning your honor mike glenn for the people [00:00:33] Gabby Silver: my p number is 77516 and good morning your honor gabby silver appearing on behalf of desmond burks good morning your honor sarah kraus p81830 also appearing on behalf of desmond burks mr burks [00:00:45] Speaker 4: can you state your name please all right good morning good morning everyone with regards to the psir we are here for sentencing any additions corrections or deletions to the i think there is one thing that we need to place on the record with regards to uh it's more minor but why don't we do that first we have a sidebar discussion go ahead mr glenn or miss lindsay yes judge we were reviewing the plea [00:01:09] Speaker 5: forms that were negotiated in this particular case and we found an error for the uh the first degree murder case that was pledged out the secondary murder counts three through five had the um notation that would have been a mandatory life habitual fourth violent offender so a mandatory 25 and that should count for the murder count but it was our understanding and belief that counts three through five it was just the habitual which doesn't carry the statutory mandatory 25 year minimum sentence so we'd like to make that correction for the record i think we have an agreement with the defense you agree yes that is correct that [00:01:49] Gabby Silver: is what was anticipated at the time of the plea so we would join in that correction request for a correction [00:01:56] Speaker 4: okay thank you anything with regards to the body of the report and obviously that specific issue is beneficial to the the defense uh any anything uh on behalf of the prosecution with regards to the specific [00:02:11] Mike Glenn: body of the report yes your honor there were statements made in the report specifically the statement made from the defendant mr bursley he indicated that he did not have a relationship with uh the victim in this case uh i would specifically like to correct that by referencing a statement he made detroit police department sergeant javares reed back in april upon his arrest where he did in fact admit to having a relationship with the victim uh we will go to uh i'm referencing the first statement uh roughly at 26 minutes since it's a statement uh he indicated that he had a relationship with them that they would have sex [00:02:55] Speaker 4: okay one second one second we're gonna everyone take a deep breath we're not gonna we're not gonna have a situation where anybody's interrupting anyone okay everybody is gonna have a chance mr burks everybody's gonna have a chance to speak miss silver miss silver i'm just gonna indicate everybody's gonna have a chance to speak understood judge and i am going to indicate that there's going to be no interruptions the court has wide discretion as to how to handle the sentencing and we're not understood judge i [00:03:27] Gabby Silver: guess i just the issue that we have on this side is i just don't know what the uh what the reasoning for placing of this on the record is this was a guilty plea he took responsibility for what he did and i don't know what any of this has to do with the sentencing of mr burke okay i understand but [00:03:43] Speaker 4: there'll be no interruptions in any way for anyone and miss lindsay if you can just give a brief brief indication of why you're asking to do that and and obviously if there's a dispute as to this or anything of that sort the defense will have every opportunity uh to respond okay yes judge thank you [00:04:02] Mike Glenn: your honor specifically in the uh investigators report your honor india uh pre-sentence report uh the defendant had an opportunity to speak with the author of the speak with the author of the report and in the report the defendant indicates that he did not have a relationship with the victim in this case that is inaccurate information the pre-sentence report goes to the michigan department of corrections and it's supposed to contain accurate information the reason why this is being put on the put into the record at this point and believe me your honor uh we have video of this but in lieu of taking up a lot of time and in lieu of raising the temperature in the room we have opted to put this information in the record in the least uh inflammatory method is possible that is why i am referencing specific time frames in the statement which we will want attached to the uh pre-sentence report to go to the michigan department of corrections so they can have an accurate uh assessment of what happened we have that right to have accurate information in the pre-sentence report and although the defendant did in fact plead guilty he cannot deny okay the underlying facts okay anything else uh yes so as it relates to the statement he gave to detroit police department in april to sergeant davaris reed at approximately 26 minutes into this statement he indicated that they he was having a sexual relationship with the victim he indicated that he felt funny talking about it because he did not want his family and friends to know about it uh further on in that same statement at uh two hours and 37 minutes he indicated uh that he was really like the victim was really like his boyfriend on the side and as it relates to uh approximately at three three hours and 18 minutes into the statement he said okay like i was his little boyfriend no seriously i believe that uh he goes on to say that he began to start developing feelings for the victim he felt uncomfortable that he had started developing feelings with the victim he asked the victim could he move in with him and the victim basically told him no that's in the statement he gave and that mr glenn will follow that up with text messages so that is the first correction that we want to make in the pre-sentence report that he did in fact have a relationship with the victim from his own words he indicated that he was his boyfriend and at one point he referenced being a boy a boy toy okay the other correction i'd like to make in the pre-sentence report relates to uh gang affiliation and the reason why this is important is the michigan department department of corrections needs to know for purposes of housing somebody if there are any type of gang affiliations during the course of the investigation several witnesses testified that mr chris indicated excuse me that mr burps indicated to him that he was a member of the crips this was followed up and verified by images in the defendant's phone extraction uh the second phone that was taken to him after he was arrested on the manslaughter case there are two photographs of him along with several other people dressed in blue throwing up the crip gang signs and that photograph was sent to gang and tell and they did verify that they were in fact crit gang signs and also they use an emoji which is uh to telegraph to people that their crips to fly under the radar which is the emoji of a handicapped person the handicapped person in the chair which is in blue and white blue is the color of the crips so therefore there is credible evidence both from witness testimony and from the defendant's own phone that he is affiliated with the grips and those are the two main corrections i want to make in the three sentence [00:08:37] Speaker 4: report as far as information is concerned miss silver you object to that correct yeah i do object to it and we continue to try well i'm going to let you make a record as well but i'm going to obviously this will only be noted as this is what the prosecution the what the prosecution's statements are and that would be absolutely and you understand that i'm going to admit it with that understanding correct [00:08:59] Gabby Silver: yes but i still do want to place an objection on the record and our position um so mr burks continues to deny any gang affiliation that's number one uh number two uh just because you are wearing blue and you throw up a gang sign there's been no credible evidence to prove that mr burks is a gang member and number three it's got absolutely no relevance to this case this isn't a gang type case so i really don't once again understand the purpose of smearing the record with that as it relates to the information that mr burks is alleged to have given to the police regarding a relationship i guess we all have different definitions of what a relationship is and i think that's the issue that mr burks takes with that so for those reasons judge we object and again it's got no relevance to a sentencing where there is a sentence agreement and mr burks has accepted responsibility through a guilty plea for his actions [00:10:02] Speaker 4: okay the michigan department of corrections uh with the understanding of each side's position will be will be advised of this and that will that information uh will and that statement that miss silver made as well uh all of this will be on the record for the michigan department of corrections to always [00:10:21] Speaker 5: consider okay thank you judge um go ahead thank you judge just a few more uh additions uh miss lindsey mentioned the statements made by the defendant to the metroid police department um over the course of this very lengthy investigation um two uh well two relevant cell phones were recovered um that were attributed to mr burks that indicated that there were 3925 contacts between mr burks from november 1st of 2022 to the doctor and back and forth uh until the date of his demise on the 22nd of april of 2023 a lot of these text messages were sexual in nature there were videos and pictures sent to each other referring to their sexual relationship there was some soliciting back and forth between the two um some of those photographs were going to be admitted at trial um some of to further some of the statements that mr burks made and to kind of add some weight to them there was also geotags so uh unique identifiers and the metadata so data within data that indicated that these photographs were actually taken at the doctor's home when the doctor was performing sexual acts on the defendant and it also indicated that there may have been more than one individual that had been involved and these are also photographs that were intended to be admitted to trial that also were identified as being the defendant now we also uh in the body of the pre-sentence report notate that there was a one or two pages of what the investigators report or what the investigation indicated we think that that's factually lacking so we would ask the court to incorporate the investigators report which is about 181 pages long it's in its redacted form as provided to to the defense upon agreement of the parties we'd like that added so that an accurate representation of the evidence that people had against the defendant and the substantial amount of work that the detroit police department did um in closing this particular case we'd like to add it uh to the pre-sentence investigation [00:12:24] Gabby Silver: report as well okay anything uh miss so no judge i mean i suppose it's within the right to send their version of offense to the Michigan department of corrections as long as it's labeled as such i don't [00:12:36] Speaker 4: have any objection okay thank you and that is standard procedure all right thank you any other correction uh corrections to the body of the report on behalf of the prosecution none good any corrections to the body of the report from the defense no your honor okay with regards to the guidelines in this case both parties agree that the guidelines are scored correctly yes and and those guidelines as score 58 to 228 on the manslaughter case 25-003851 and 25-003857 the guidelines are 315 to 1050. do both parties agree with that you're just one moment your honor [00:13:36] Gabby Silver: well we agree with that we have computed the guidelines and came out with exactly these same [00:13:40] Speaker 5: scorings yeah judge we have no corrections to uh okay thank you [00:13:50] Speaker 4: all right anything on behalf of the people your honor in regards to [00:13:58] Speaker 5: the first degree murder case we do have members of the family that would like to direct the court [00:14:06] Speaker 4: um they can come up to the podium and you can have them uh they can come one one at a time okay thank you thank you for being here can you state your name for the record please lila graber okay and if you can just indicate uh your relationship with uh the victim in this case mr hoover i'm his sister thank you for for being here today this is your opportunity to make a statement to the court go ahead [00:15:07] Speaker 6: i want to thank the court for this opportunity to briefly describe some of the impact mr burke's actions have had on me and my family the year of 2023 was going to be difficult for our family we knew that we just didn't know how difficult in january doctors said there was nothing more to be done for my mom's cancer we expected that it would be only a few months before she passed away as april approached we felt that the end of her life would likely be within a few weeks in early april i had one of my last phone conversations with devon my only brother his schedule of visiting our mom had not meshed with mine and he wanted to know if i'd be there for easter her family i considered it but due to responsibilities at home i thought i couldn't and though no one is promised tomorrow i reasoned that we would be together later in the month around mom's bedside and then again at her funeral i was expecting that through that time of sorrow devon would be there along with each of my five sisters it would be such a comfort to be together while we said our earthly goodbyes that was not to be before we got to that day the shock and horror of devon's death turned everything upside down four days after the awful realization of his murder our mother passed away devon was gone the family was miles apart some of us were in detroit navigating the difficulty of planning a funeral without the advantages of hometown connections while the rest of us were going while the rest were going through the motions of tasks needing to be done in indiana all of us were distracted by our grief over the loss of devon and the many questions swirling around in our minds the weight of devon's death and the surrounding circumstances seemed to crowd out any normal feelings of grief one might have at the loss of a loving attentive mother that brought some feelings of guilt and still does to this day it was as if i could not do what i wanted to do for her and what i felt she deserved tears sleepless nights confusion and questions were the new reality in the early days after devon's death difficulty concentrating on certain things was a problem for a long time i could not concentrate well enough to really enjoy reading any book except the bible until just recently it's not hard to put those kind of things into words but how does one adequately adequately describe the ongoing loss of devon his life his person everything he brought to us and to the family i've decided not to go into detail but what was the relationship we had was snuffed out in an instant at the hands of mr burke's besides that dreams for our future were gone i had thought about what life might look like as we grew older i hoped for a time when work would slow down family responsibilities would be less and we might have more time to spend together that will never happen devon's death has affected every member of our large family each one in slightly different ways one of the heaviest burdens is knowing the devastating blow it was to our 85 year old father to lose his only son in such a way none of us can really know the suffering that he endured i do want to say that in spite of a measure of sorrow and disappointment that i will carry with me for the rest of my life i'm okay i'm surviving even thriving i believe i can say this for the rest of the fam excuse me for the rest of the family as well this is possible because of the love of our lord jesus christ who is with us every step of this difficult journey i read something from the bible the other day that perfectly describes it for me psalm 31 verses 7 and 8 i am overcome with joy because of your unfailing love for you have seen my troubles and you care about the anguish of my soul you have not handed me over to my enemy but have set me in a safe place this is the reality that nothing can take away and now i have a few words for mr burks your actions have grieved not only our family but many others as well in these last few months in particular my heart has gone out to your mother i'm a mother i have sons if i'm correct you'll be 36 years old this year i have a 36 year old son i know what it's like to hold a newborn son in your arms and envision all the possibilities for a life well lived mr burks i believe i can safely say that you have shattered your mother's heart the life you could have had is gone you will spend most if not all of the rest of your life behind bars this i believe is a fitting consequence for the crime you have committed against not only devon but against me our family the sale of family and the many friends affected by the grace of god we have no hatred or animosity towards you i asked my dad devon's dad if he had anything to say his words were in prison he will have time to think my prayer is that he will repent we can forgive that is my prayer to mr burks that you will find true freedom freedom from something far worse than prison walls freedom from the evil that has you firmly in its grip freedom of the heart and soul freedom to love instead of hate this freedom is the gift of god available to all without discrimination described within the pages of the bible if the son meaning jesus christ sets you free you will be free indeed john 8 36. that's all thank you very much okay thank you very much for your statement [00:22:34] Speaker 4: good morning sir good morning um can you state your name for the record gerald martin okay and what [00:22:43] Speaker 7: relationship did you have with devon hoover my wife andrea is devon's sister okay so i'm here to [00:22:49] Speaker 4: make a statement on her behalf all right i want to thank you for being here and you can go ahead and [00:22:53] Speaker 7: make that statement thank you this is my name is gerald martin i will be reading a statement for my wife andrew martin and sister devon hoover today i want to take a little time to talk about my brother devon and how much i miss him devon was a great family member someone i was always glad to see our family wasn't always wasn't extremely affectionate but devon would walk up and give me a hug he was engaging and fun to talk to he didn't talk about himself a lot but he was interested in all of us and would ask questions about our lives he had a good sense of humor and conversations were punctuated by laughter as he would tell funny stories from his life or from the latest book he was reading he was brilliant and we were proud of him and his accomplishments he would join enthusiastically in any activity our family was doing whether it was eating a slice of homemade pie playing monopoly or frisbee football building sandcastles on the beach or singing hymns devon was a hard worker and would jump in to help with whatever he needed whatever needed to be done during hard times he called to see how he could help or offer his expertise as a doctor he really cared and he was so kind he was an amazing friend to many it's hard to put into words what he meant to our family or the sense of loss we feel now that he's gone our family will never be the same we have experienced the shock of his death we've cried many many tears we were thrown into planning two funerals at once since her mother died mother died four days after devon i've gone through more stress and exhaustion than ever before grief pops up in so many ways often unexpectedly and at inopportune times we had to leave our children behind as we made numerous trips to detroit to take care of devon's estate personally i have a lot of anxiety there's an ache in my heart as i remember devon and think about what could have been in spite of all this i know i'm going to be okay jesus is with me and he's promised to never ever leave me i know his promises are true he brings me peace as i wrestle with my fears just as just as just as devon beautifully restored his home room by room jesus is restoring my soul i'm a work in progress and jesus has promised to complete his work in me desmond i forgive you i will not hold bitterness and hatred in my heart towards you for the evil you have done and i wish for you is that you can know jesus he says in the bible that anyone that commits sin is a slave to sin and this includes all of us because we have all sinned please turn away from your sin and come to jesus he can make you into a new person he can give you a new heart with new desires and you can be free on the inside even though you are in prison thank you [00:26:09] Speaker 4: thank you sir good morning uh can you state your name for the record please beth luck lightner okay and what relationship [00:26:35] Speaker 8: do you have to devon is my brother april 23 2023 is a day forever seared in my mind it was a sunday and it was an unusual day and that i did not attend church but instead went to be with my mother who was dying from cancer my sisters and i were together caring for our mom and were prepared for our brother devon to join us for lunch as he had on many sundays for the past several months as the morning progressed we occasionally mentioned that we were surprised devon wasn't home yet we had all called or messaged him and he hadn't answered us as unusual as that was we knew he was very busy and we thought of different scenarios that might be preventing him from answering us we knew he would let us know as soon as possible as to why he was late as the day wore on we decided to go ahead and eat lunch without him i was distracted about caring for my mom but an unsettled knock began forming in the pit of my stomach i kept pushing away the worrisome thoughts unable to even begin thinking of anything else except at any moment ivan's car was going to pull in the driveway and he would explain all that had kept him for so long and we would all laugh about how worried we had been by mid-afternoon we were all extremely concerned we tried calling the hospital they told us he was probably on call we left him more messages through his answering service for the hospital and finally we knew we must call the police they said they would conduct a welfare check it wasn't long until they called us back with the information that they found his car and there was blood in it this was the beginning of the utter devastation of my heart and soul we began praying and calling our churches and friends and family to pray for our brother we still had hope that he was alive it was very late i went home with my husband we couldn't sleep we sat on the couch in silence just praying for a miracle and then the call came he was gone murdered my only brother my childhood companion the one i had played with every day biking riding horses waiting in the creek making forts we worked together feeding calves and cows and milking and bailing hay we had pet raccoons together we went to school together and to church together hearing that he was murdered felt like a bomb went off in my heart the pieces scattered everywhere the next several days and even weeks are a blur of painful survival i did what needed to be done going through the motions of living but feeling so broken inside my mom had died the thursday following yvonne's death i felt unable to grieve for her every thought every emotion of grief was already spent on my brother visitation funeral burial for divan and then visitation funeral burial for my mom so many tears there was comfort and love from many many people which helped tremendously the whole community shared our sorrow and surrounded our family with love care support and prayers throughout the weeks that followed i struggled to know where to begin putting my life back together how do i get through the day the physical pain was real and deep as more and more came out about the murder the pain increased things that my whole body soul and spirit longed to reject my faith was challenged in ways it had never been challenged before i had so many questions and there were no answers all this wrapped up with the hourly grief and pain for divan now it has been nearly three years and god has been faithful to me he's still here holding my questions he has given comfort he has revealed truth and he has given grace that brought me to a place of acceptance and forgiveness while i abhor the evil of taking another person's life i forgive desmond burks and i pray for him to find forgiveness and help from a real and loving god who will never cast away anyone who comes to him today and for the rest of my life i carry the grief of all that transpired around my brother's murder i always imagined connecting with him more spending more time in our senior years once my children were raised at home i sit beside remnants of his life there's a little table here and an antique bowl there his white lab coat hangs in my closet next to my dresses while these are cherished they are also empty and lonely reminders of his pets i miss his grand house his many hand-picked antiques how he styled them and displayed them i miss his knowledge of the medical field and all the help he gave me over the years i miss his smile the light in his eyes his practical no-nonsense advice i miss his determined and confident stride i miss his entertaining stories and sense of humor i miss his love and kindness but most of all i just miss him who he was as a real human being so unique and so irreplaceable this is the lasting impact that i will always miss him and i will always carry the sorrow of losing him for the rest of my life thank you thank you very much [00:32:20] Speaker 4: good morning good morning can you state your name please lori hoover okay and how are you related to divine he is my brother okay thank you thank you for being here [00:32:34] Speaker 9: unimaginable evil came to the kitchen table of my parents home on april 23rd 2023 where our family was gathered and we all heard the voice on the phone saying we found his car with blood in it in the next room our mother lay unresponsive dying from cancer it was a dark night that culminated with some of the darkest news possible our brother was dead murdered we were prepared to grieve for our mother but not for our brother divan was a central figure in our family right in the middle of the siblings with three older sisters and three younger he was strong capable driven and exceptionally intelligent he loved his family and we knew it now there is a divan sized hole in the middle of our family and our hearts are forever changed by grief divan accomplished much in 53 years and he would have done so much more he wanted to take each of his sisters and their spouses on a trip to europe he was planning for an english garden in his backyard learning french and learning french in addition to being an excellent neural surgeon in the prime of his career known for his skill and compassion one man desmond burks is responsible for our grief our loss and all that will never be how shall we go on without our brother we don't really know but we do know a god who said come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and i will give you rest we have found rest in the one who carries our grief and sorrow we go on with forgiveness desmond i do forgive you because i have also been forgiven of much jesus is a light that shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it i pray that you will turn to him and find rest for your soul and we go on with hope believing one day all shall be well on that day god himself will wipe away all tears from our eyes and there will be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things will be passed away [00:35:04] Speaker 4: thank you thank you thank you morning good morning you say your name please my name is linda hirschberger okay and um what relationship did you have with devon devon is my brother okay thank you for being here go ahead i um [00:35:34] Speaker 10: my sister said a lot of what i was going to say so um if it's appropriate if i could talk to mr burks [00:35:42] Speaker 4: um you can direct your comments to me but obviously you can say what you want okay okay so [00:35:49] Speaker 10: i i just wanted to say mr burks that um like my sister said in in april of 23 it was like this bomb went off in our lives and it was just this like they said a giant devon sized hole that that will never be filled and in the three years following we had these ripple out effects and like like my sister stated there's so many things that are that are we just miss and it's the biggest loss is devon but i think that like some of the the ripples that are the hardest are the fact that that it happened right in the most painful time of our lives and i don't know if you know that but like that's been the the thing that's been hardest for me to forgive you for is that when we could have used devon the most he was the strength of our family and he was the one who would have known how to help our mom get from living to passing and how to take care of her pain and we needed him so desperately in that moment and he wasn't there and and he and my mom were the strength in our family and to lose both of them in one week um was just astronomical and i just i just that piece there has been the hardest for me to really let go of and i i just wanted to say to you mr burks that when i sat in the courtroom earlier and i saw your your mother's tears something shifted in my heart and i just i just know we're we're in the middle of a very broken story and i acknowledge that i have no idea what happened in your life prior to this point and so all the giant things that i'm losing of my brother all the ways that i miss him all the the desires that i wish my sister stated everything i was going to say about what we were hoping for all that loss i think i think just if you could you know speak to us in the seal of family some sort of acknowledgement that you understand our losses like i think one of the hardest things is that you act like their lives didn't matter that somehow they were extend expendable and so i stand in this place where there's a loss of devon and there's a lost of mr stila and and and and you're acting like it was nothing and i think that for both of our families if you could just acknowledge the great loss that would be so helpful to us and i think i think too that my heart really agrees for you because i see your life as a loss too i wouldn't want for you the rest of your life in prison i'm sure that the you have giftings that were never experienced because of what life handed you and i just i'm sorry that your life is going to be stuck in jail the rest of your life too it doesn't bring me any great joy it's just just a lot of pain all in one one pile and so yeah i just just want to say too that i don't hate you and i'm choosing to keep forgiving you and i'm i just i would ask if at some point you could say to our family and the seal family that you understand how great our loss is that would be really meaningful to us thank you [00:39:32] Speaker 4: to anticipate i believe it's just one okay [00:39:52] Mike Glenn: um [00:40:06] Speaker 4: this was brought in that you can give it to the deputies as well and then mr brooks can have that okay um thank you good morning good morning can you please state your name and what relationship did you have with mr [00:40:33] Speaker 11: select um he was my stepdad thank you for being here thank you brother sada was my stepfather but to me and to so many others he was much more than that he was family he was safety he was kindness and he was love in human form on the night of of april 17 2023 brother called my mom his wife to tell her he was on his way home from work that call was normal it was routine it was the kind of call that represents stability and love the kind that says i'm coming home home but he never made it home as the hours passed fear started to set in because that was not like him brother was dependable brother was responsible brother was the kind of man who showed up always my mom called all of us in a panic because deep down she knew something was wrong hearing that fear in her voice is something i will never forget we called the hospital after hospital hoping someone had seen him hoping someone could tell us what that he was okay eventually we found out that he was at sinai grace hospital no one called us no one notified us even though he had his id on him while we were desperately searching for him he was laying there alone fighting for his life when we got there and learned that he was on his deathbed from a brain bleed caused by an assault during a road rage road rage incident our world stopped the shock the disbelief the heartbreak there are no words strong enough to describe that moment brother was one of the gentlest most genuine men you could ever meet he would never hurt anyone he was 68 years old and still worked every single day not because he had to but because providing for his family was who he was that was his purpose that was his pride he was a father to six children a grandfather to over 12 and a stepfather to three but more than titles he was present he loved deeply he showed up he listened he helped he protected he was a loving husband to my mother her partner her strength her comfort and now that is gone brother was a god-fearing man who never missed a prayer in his life his faith was not just something he said it was something he lived he treated people with patience with respect and with kindness he believed in doing good and even when the world wasn't good back and on top of all of that he was a caregiver for my mother who is bed bound and on dialysis and unfortunately she's too sick to be here today he took care of her every single day he made sure she was safe comfortable and loved he carried that responsibility with pride and love never complaint never hesitation because of desmond's actions our lives are shattered over something as small as a meaningless as a fender bender he took away a man who meant everything to us he didn't just take one life he damaged an entire family he took away a husband a father a grandfather a caregiver a spiritual leader in our family a man who held us together there is an emptiness in our lives now that now that can never be filled holidays will never feel the same family gatherings will always have a missing chair my mother lost the person who cared for her and loved her unconditionally our family lost our protector and our foundation brother deserved to come home that night he deserved to grow old with his wife he deserved to watch his grandchildren grow up he deserved peace he deserved safety he deserved life instead we are left with grief that will never fully go away we will carry this loss for the rest of our lives and we will carry his memory kindness and [00:43:48] Speaker 4: his love with us forever thank you thank you thank you for your statement okay thank you on behalf of mr burks mr uh mr burks uh and miss silver you can come forward yes judge [00:44:12] Gabby Silver: uh i i i on behalf of my client and miss kraus uh sincerely apologize to both families for the loss they have suffered i also i think i apologize for the circumstances that brought mr burks here the childhood that mr burks led and the circumstances that i think contributed to him being here before you today i think mr burks wishes to address the court as well okay thank you mr burks so go ahead my name is [00:44:56] Speaker 12: desmond burks i like to say i'm not a murderer i'm not a killer i'm a regular person like everybody in this room i'm not gay as what the prosecutor want me to be uh not a gang member i love sports i'm a people person i didn't intentionally meant to kill uh the guy about the road rage he was just slapped not i saw it uh sorry about what happened can't bring it back about the doctor stuff just because i took the plea don't mean i did i'm tired of keep saying um some gay killer or a gay person and a gang member in the same breath that don't even makes it's impossible that's that's that's all that i would say [00:45:55] Speaker 4: all right all right thank you um with regards to uh the on both cases you may file an application for leave to appeal your conviction and sentence if you cannot afford to hire an attorney the court will appoint an attorney and furnish the attorney with the transcripts yes go ahead um we i would just because of you all right we have for today we're going to go back um why don't we you know what um jackson can you approach uh we're going to go out for a minute we'll be right back we're back on the record uh mr burks all the attorneys are present mr burks is present mr burks made his statement i've heard all the statements before i continue i just want to indicate mr burks you may file an application for leave to appeal your conviction and sentence if you cannot afford to hire an attorney the court will appoint an attorney and furnish the attorney with the transcripts and file necessary for you to handle your appeal your request for an attorney must be made within 42 days now this goes for both cases you will have that application for leave to appeal your conviction with regards to costs and fees that are associated with this case 130 crime victims assessment on both cases there will be thirteen hundred dollars in court costs on both cases four hundred and four hundred dollars in attorney fees on both cases there must be a 60 dna fee that will be on case 25-003851 68 in state costs on both cases with regards to docket 25-003851 you'll be given credit for 562 days served i will adopt the sentence agreements in this case it will be the sentence of this court on count two second degree murder to adopt the sentence agreement in that case it will be 35 to 60 years in the michigan department of corrections on counts three four and five per the agreement it will be six to ten years in the michigan department of corrections with regards to six through eight felony firearm second offense it will be the sense of this court to sentence you to 5 years to sentence you to five years in the michigan department of corrections the second degree murder count and counts three four and five will be concurrent with one another and both will be consecutive with the felony firearm on case 25-003857 it will be the sentence of this court to sentence mr burks to 10 to 15 years in the michigan department of corrections concurrent with one another with the other case of 25-003857 and is there any restitution i can leave [00:50:50] Speaker 5: that to be determined yes you're all right we'd ask to be determined okay okay it will be left to be [00:50:56] Speaker 4: determined i want to thank the hoover family for being here today and the soleil family uh to the soleil family i'm very sorry for your loss and thank you for that profound statement that was made and to the hoover family i want to thank everyone who spoke my heart goes out and my condolences goes out to everybody involved all the victims and oftentimes um in these cases the one thing i don't want is for the victims mr saleh and devon hoover ever to be forgotten and based on those statements that were made today those were some of the most profound forgiving statements that this court has ever heard and that is a far cry from the dichotomy that we've seen on the other side quite frankly and the smirks and the rolling of the eyes and making this a circus all i have to say is quite frankly you are a murderer sir you are a killer you pled under oath to that and that's your sentence thank you everyone [00:52:12] Speaker ?: he was like Thank you.