The Lost Girls (35 page)

The entire sentencing would be broadcast live by
Fox News
, MSNBC, CNN and HLN cable networks, as well as all four Cleveland network affiliates.

Now that Castro had pleaded guilty there would not be a trial, but Tim McGinty still planned to present evidence and call witnesses. He was determined to tell the world exactly what had happened inside 2207 Seymour Avenue, so there would be a record of Ariel Castro’s evil, in case he ever tried to appeal.

At around nine-fifteen, defense attorneys Craig Weintraub and Jaye Schlachet came into the courtroom, after meeting their client in a holding cell downstairs. Then ten minutes later, a shackled and handcuffed Ariel Castro was led in by two sheriff’s deputies. He stared through his glasses at the public gallery and appeared to smile, before sitting down at the defense table between his attorneys. Soon afterward the court rose as Judge Russo entered.

“Well, we’re here this morning,” said the judge, “for sentencing the case of the State of Ohio versus Ariel Castro. Mr. Castro, did you have the chance to speak to your attorneys since the last Friday you were in court?”

“Yes, I have,” replied Castro confidently.

“And have they discussed with you your rights at the sentencing, and the procedures to be followed?”

“Yes, they have.”

“Do you understand you have the right to speak, if you wish?”

“Yes, I do,” replied Castro.

Then the judge asked the two defense attorneys if they had anything to say on behalf of their client.

“Judge,” said Schlachet, “can I just make a quick objection before we start?”

He then objected to the prosecution presenting any witnesses or evidence, apart from the victims or their representatives’ impact statements. He accused McGinty of basically wanting to retry the case.

“[It] didn’t go to trial for the exact purpose of avoiding a public spectacle,” he said, “of everything that’s going to happen. And we absolutely, Your Honor, object. Introducing doctor reports or photographs or a model of the house has absolutely nothing to do with what’s happened.”

Then Craig Weintraub reminded the judge that both sides had agreed not to disclose any graphic details of what had gone on inside the house, to protect the three women.

“This is a unique case,” said Weintraub, “and a story about an incredible survival, as well as a man with significant, undiagnosed mental illness.”

Weintraub said his client accepted full responsibility for his conduct, and that his mental illness and childhood sexual abuse could never justify his crimes.

“Mr. Castro pled guilty to over nine hundred counts and does not dispute any of [them],” said Weintraub. “The upcoming presentation that’s going to be captured by the media and played all over the world will forever memorialize the facts of the brutality that occurred.

“That is what we wanted to avoid; offering up the details and salacious facts. We wanted to avoid this, however it’s the prosecutor’s decision to have to show the world these facts.”

Judge Russo then asked Castro if he had anything to say in mitigation of his sentence.

“I would like to apologize to the three women,” he replied. “Can I do that now … or should I do it at the end of the day?”

Judge Russo said he could apologize to them now and also later when he spoke to the court.

Then, addressing the defense objections, Russo said he had already advised the State of what could and what could not be presented.

“I think the State’s concern,” he said, “is that there would be an adequate record so that any reviewing court … would know the foundation [of] why such a sentence might be appropriate. And why it’s not symbolic but actually justified.”

Prosecutor Tim McGinty then stood up, saying it was necessary to put on record the defendant’s “horrendous” offenses.

“Mr. Castro’s now an admitted murderer, rapist, serial kidnapper,” he told the judge, “and it’s only appropriate that we put before this community, this state, this country and the world, what he did for over ten years.”

Judge Russo ruled that the presentation could proceed, explaining sentencing hearings were not bound by the rule of evidence, and other relevant information was often introduced.

Assistant County Prosecutor Anna Faraglia then called the State’s first witness, Cleveland police officer Barbara Johnson.

“Can you lay out for the court,” asked Faraglia, “the conditions that you observed when you went into the house at 2207 Seymour?”

“I remember it was very dark,” said Officer Johnson, “because I didn’t take my flashlight with me because it was a bright sunny day. But fortunately I had a flashlight on my firearm.”

Johnson told the court how she and Officer Anthony Espada encountered obstacles on their way up the stairs, like heavy curtains and furniture. As they reached the top, Espada yelled out, “Cleveland police! Cleveland police!”

“Then you hear some pitter-patter steps,” said Johnson, “and I can hear someone running. But it stopped and … I kind of shined the flashlight, so whoever it was could see we were the police. We waited for Michelle Knight as she literally launched herself into Officer Espada’s arms … just choking him and she just kept repeating, ‘You saved us! You saved us!’ She then came over to me and jumped in my arms. As I’m trying to re-holster my weapon her legs are wrapped around me, so it was kind of hard to get my weapon back in my holster.”

Soon afterward, Johnson had seen another face “peeping around the corner of the doorway.” When Espada asked her name, she meekly replied, “Georgina DeJesus.”

The assistant prosecutor then asked Johnson about the three women’s condition when they were put in an ambulance outside the house.

“All three of them were … thin, pale, scared,” she testified. “Still kind of reluctant and not really sure what was happening. There was a lot of talking. They were very nervous, saying all kinds of things that happened to them.”

“Do you recall,” asked Faraglia, “some of the details they were giving you about what happened to them?”

“I didn’t ask a lot of questions,” she said, “I just let them talk. I do remember at one point looking at Amanda and asking her, ‘Well, how about when you had your daughter? Didn’t you go to the hospital?’ And she said, ‘No, I had my daughter here at the house. Michelle delivered her for me.’ And I was just dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe it.”

The next witness was MetroHealth Medical Center ER physician Dr. Gerald Maloney, who was on duty when the three women came in. He told the court that they all appeared “very emotionally distraught,” as they spoke about being imprisoned and sexually assaulted in a house for many years.

“Miss Knight in particular related that she’s been pregnant,” he testified, “and had been subject to both deprivation of food and physical assault to try and induce a miscarriage. All three related various sorts of physical assault as well.”

The doctor said Michelle did not want any male nurses or physicians in the room during her examination.

“Without getting into specific detail,” asked Faraglia, “were there various documentation given to you, with regards to what sort of sexual assault the women underwent?”

“Yes,” he replied, “they related information regarding the sexual assaults to us, and also to the sexual-assault nurse examiner.”

“And in a very general description, of what nature would those assaults be?” she asked.

“Forcible rape,” he replied. “Multiple repeated times. Again it was against their will and they suffered physical harm while they were raped.”

The next witness was Detective Andrew Harasimchuk of the Cleveland Police Department’s Sex Crimes Unit, who had interviewed the victims at the MetroHealth Medical Center just hours after their escape. The detective told Assistant Prosecutor Max Martin that it was “very chaotic” at the hospital that night.

One by one, the women had told him how Ariel Castro had lured them back to his house, using his daughters as bait. Once there, Castro had physically attacked them and brought them down to his basement, where he chained them to a pole and put a motorcycle helmet on their heads.

Then Martin asked the detective to outline his investigation into the case.

“I interviewed Ariel Castro,” he said. “I visited the crime scene. I read dozens of reports … and examined hundreds of photographs. I reviewed hundreds of pieces of physical evidence that were taken from the house. I reviewed written materials kept by the victims during their years of captivity.”

“And what did your investigation reveal?” asked the assistant prosecutor.

“After reviewing all that evidence, it was determined that Ariel Castro, and Ariel Castro alone, was the only person involved in this incident.”

Harasimchuk said that Castro had imprisoned all three women, restraining them with chains or locking them inside a room, as well as depriving them of food, and bathroom and bathing facilities. He had repeatedly raped them “vaginally, orally or anally,” as well as inflicting physical and emotional abuse.

The assistant prosecutor asked how the 977-count indictment against Castro had been arrived at.

“Some of these charges reflect specific instances of assault that were reported to me by the victims,” he testified, “or through the investigation of various written materials. The abuse was continuous and without interruption during the time they were held captive.”

Then Craig Weintraub stood up to cross-examine the witness, asking what Amanda told detectives about when she discovered she was pregnant with Jocelyn.

“She did inform law enforcement,” said the defender, “that despite the circumstances of being kidnapped and held hostage, and any sort of Stockholm syndrome that may have been in effect, she did use the words … that it was consensual. Is that correct?”

“That is correct,” Harasimchuk replied.

“Thank you,” said Weintraub, as he sat down at the defense table, next to a smirking Ariel Castro.

The next witness was Joshua Barr, a forensic scientist with the Ohio BCI. Under Assistant Prosecutor Max Martin’s questioning, Barr described examining Castro’s .357-caliber Luger revolver and finding it in good working order. He had also examined the rusty chains found in the house, testifying they were almost one hundred feet long and weighed ninety-two pounds.

“Was it also your organization that determined the paternity of the minor child that was found in the house?” asked Martin.

“Yes,” said Barr.

“Paternity was established that Ariel Castro was the father of the minor child found in the home?”

“Yes.”

FBI Special Agent Andrew Burke then took the stand, describing how he had coordinated the multiagency investigation at the beginning. He testified how he had organized the victims’ medical treatment, as well as arranging for them to be reunited with their families. Over the ensuing weeks, he supervised their ongoing medical and psychological care.

“Based on your knowledge of the course of the investigation,” asked Max Martin, “have each of the victims been in need of ongoing medical care, as a result of their captivity, abuse and victimization by Ariel Castro?”

“All of the victims’ needs are ongoing,” Special Agent Burke replied. “I don’t know if anyone could expect anything different, really. They’ve made dramatic improvements from the time that I’ve spent with them. They are with the people that love them. They are getting world-class medical, psychological care. But you can’t turn off ten years of systematic, sustained psychological, sexual and physical abuse like a light switch.”

Then Martin asked about the scale model of the 2207 Seymour Avenue house in the middle of the courtroom.

“That model was created by the FBI’s operational project unit in Quantico,” he explained. “They took measurements from the house, using … a surveyor’s measurement tool. And then they constructed this house as a scale model, one inch equaling one foot.”

Burke said that each of the model’s rooms had been painted in the actual color of each room in the house. And it was used during the victims’ questioning, so they could describe exactly what room they were in during each incident they described.

The assistant prosecutor then asked about Burke’s first visit to 2207 Seymour Avenue, just hours after the escape.

“Well, it was surreal to me,” Burke replied. “I’ve been involved in the missing-persons investigation for quite some time and it was a difficult experience.”

Martin then asked Special Agent Burke to explain how the defendant had transformed his residence into a prison. Then using photographs taken inside the house, which were displayed on a large TV screen at the front of the courtroom, Burke described a crude system of alarms and mirrors Castro had rigged, as well as heavy curtains and other materials to block off certain areas of the house.

Upstairs on the second floor, Burke pointed out how Castro had removed all the inside doorknobs, attaching slide locks on the outside, so he could lock in his prisoners. As Castro had boarded up all the windows with wood, he had cut a small hole in the bottom panel of the bedroom doors for ventilation. He had also cut a hole in the ceiling of the tiny bedroom Michelle and Gina shared, so a fan up in the attic would pump air down.

The assistant prosecutor then showed the court a photograph of Castro’s basement, asking about a large support pole in the center.

“That’s a pole … that the women were restrained to at various points,” Burke explained. “[It] was used to restrain the women in the early stages of captivity.”

He also pointed out an old washing machine at the far end of the basement, where investigators had discovered more than $22,000 in cash.

“Did Mr. Castro use his cash … to run an internal barter system, if you will, with his victims?” asked Martin.

“On occasion,” replied the agent.

“And would he,” Martin continued, “after sexually abusing them, throw money at them, saying, ‘Here, you’re being paid for the sex?’”

“There were reports of that.”

The assistant prosecutor then asked about a handwritten letter, dated April 4, 2004, that had been found near the kitchen counter.

“I know that to be a letter written by Ariel Castro,” said Burke.