Chapter 14: Sentencing
Sentencing took place six weeks later.
My mother received nine years. My father received seven. Kyle received eighteen months followed by probation and mandatory restitution. The judge’s statement from the bench was brief and unsparing. He described the calculated nature of the isolation, the deliberate starvation, and the theft from a man who had trusted his own children. He called the shed what it was: a prison built by greed and contempt.
I read a short victim-impact statement on Grandpa’s behalf. I did not raise my voice. I did not dramatize. I simply listed the facts of his condition when I found him, the months of lies he had been told, and the permanent damage to his health and sense of safety. When I finished, the courtroom was silent.
Outside, the sky was clear. Grandpa waited in the car with a victim advocate. I slid into the driver’s seat and sat for a moment with my hands on the wheel.
“It’s done,” I said.
May you like
He looked out the window at the courthouse steps. “Then take me home.”
I did.
