Love Song (LGBTQ+) (COMPLETED)

61. Sentencer

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

"I am Tina Perks, and this Steve Nomura. Good afternoon and welcome to FAX 7 News. We'll move right along to Kirsten Vienna.

Kirsten, you spent the morning in court as former quarterback and local Ely High star, Devin Herrera, was sentenced to decades in prison today. After being shot eight times by Josh Fields, everyone thought it was an unfortunate and pointless act of crime. A young man's bright career was taken away by a needless act of violence, but it was later revealed that Josh Fields acted in retaliation of the accused rape of his younger sister, Rylee Fields. Little did he know how far his acts would echo.

Not long after coming out against Mr. Herrera, a second victim came forward. Lynn Owens came to light with much of the same statement, but what nobody expected was video evidence to seemingly fall out of thin air and into the hands of the prosecution once she came forward. Then a third victim came out against the former young star. Jennifer Reeves, who's statement seemed to carry over many of the same elements Lynn Owen's had. With three accusations raining down one after another, it made the heads of Ely's own turn quite widely as they became less and less sure of his innocence. We take you to Kirsten with more of today's story:

Given the variations in times between each accused rape, a slowdown came today in the sentence hearing of Devin Herrera. Both Rylee Fields and Lynn Owens were both fourteen at the time of their rapes, while the final victim to come out had just turned 15. Devin Herrera, in accordance to Oregon law, was tried as an adult for the three heinous crimes. After getting dates in order, judge Daniel Lutz held all of three victim impact statements, but set two down. Devin Herrera was further sentenced to forty-four years in prison, but aside from a small outburst towards one of the victims, gave little reaction or eye contact to anyone in the courtroom.

Prior to the sentencing, Judge Daniel Lutz held the lone victim statement and read an excerpt aloud with the permission of the victim. A victim statement that, in so many words, decided the sentence for Devin Herrera:

"It didn't take me long to realize that the hell I was living in and putting myself through was never going to end. The filth I felt every time I awoke and went to sleep, the nightmares I see every time I shut my eyes. None of them are going to end. They are never going to leave. The feelings of shame and disgust, the feelings of betrayal and guilt are the feelings that I'm stuck with, the feelings that I'll have to spend the rest of my life trying to forget.

No matter how many times I shower and clean myself raw, this grime I feel may never completely leave. No matter how many times I try to forget about what he did to me, I may never forget. No matter how many times I try hide my shame and disgust, they may never leave. No matter how many times I try to move on from the betrayal and guilt I feel, they may always remain right in front of me.

So many times I wanted to be anything other than myself, anywhere but my own skin, anywhere but my own head. So many times I wanted to leave my body behind and let it burn, because it wasn't mine anymore. It was just a shell of what used to belong to me, just like everything else that was stolen. So many times, I blamed myself for something I never had control over. As I fell deeper and deeper into my own invaded hell every single day, I realized something when all I found in and around me was emptiness.

I wasn't just raped, I was robbed of everything that made me who I was."

Judge Daniel Lutz then had this to say:

"After the drugging and raping of three young women, it has been made clear to the court that you are unfit for society at this time, Mr. Herrera. You've shown no shame or remorse, nor even acknowledgement of your wrongdoings."