Ultimately, the judge decided not to have the jury deliberate further.
Relatives of victims observed Monday’s proceedings. Justine Decadt, whose sister, Ann-Laure Decadt, was killed, sat slumped in her seat near the wall of the courtroom, mostly looking down at her hands in her lap. Monica Missio, the mother of Nicholas Cleves, the software engineer, stared straight ahead.
The end of the trial’s penalty phase followed days of emotional testimony from survivors of the attack as well as relatives of people killed. Some spoke about the impact on their lives of the loss of their loved ones, while survivors described how their injuries had changed their lives forever.
Ana Evans, the widow of Hernan Mendoza, one of the Argentines who died in the attack, said through an interpreter that she and her husband had “made a very good team together — we complemented each other very well.”
She recalled how her youngest daughter stood on her toes, placed her palm on a television screen where her father’s image had appeared in news coverage of the attack.
“Daddy. That’s Daddy,” Ms. Evans recalled her daughter saying. “I’m missing him.”
Rachel Pharn, who survived the attack, said she saw the truck run over two bicycle riders just before it hit her. She suffered a broken foot and ankle, and her shoulder was damaged. She still has flashbacks every day, she said, adding that many times, “it has been hard to find the will to live.”
Ms. Missio, the mother of Mr. Cleves, said her son’s Halloween costume was still folded in his bedroom, as he had left it. She said she didn’t recognize her life now. “I’m just existing,” she said.
Brittany Kriegstein contributed reporting.
Benjamin Weiser and Lola Fadulu
Source link