Madison and Tyler eventually accepted plea deals in July, 2 months before the trial. The breaking and entering charges were reduced as part of the negotiation. They each pleaded guilty to misdemeanor, criminal trespass, and simple assault. They received probation, community service, and were required to take anger management classes.
They also had to pay restitution for the broken window and my medical expenses. My father went to trial in September. The video was played for the jury. All 14 minutes of it, from the moment they broke in until the moment they left. The minutes of them ranting and raging through my house, touching my belongings, making threats, my father’s hand around my throat, Madison’s kick, the catering manager screaming for them to stop.
Me collapsing on the floor. I testified for 3 hours. The defense attorney tried to paint me as vindictive as someone who deliberately provoked my family by posting photos online. He suggested I’d bought the house specifically to make them look bad. I bought the house because I wanted a home, I said simply. I worked hard for 20 years to be able to afford it.
My family’s opinions about my success weren’t part of that equation. But you excluded them from your Thanksgiving celebration, the attorney pressed. They excluded themselves and they excluded a dozen other family members from their celebration. I simply offered an alternative gathering for the people they’d uninvited and posting those photos online.
That wasn’t meant to antagonize them. I posted photos of a happy family gathering because I was proud of the day we’d had. If that antagonized them, they should examine why other people’s happiness makes them angry. The jury deliberated for less than 3 hours. Guilty on all counts. My father was sentenced to 6 years in prison with the possibility of parole after serving four years.
The judge made it clear that strangulation was one of the strongest predictors of future deadly domestic violence and he took it seriously. The breaking and entering, the complete lack of remorse, and the pattern of violent behavior Aunt Diane and Uncle Paul had testified about all factored into the sentence. You invaded your daughter’s property, destroyed her window, broke into her home, and violently assaulted her.
