Rose Marie Rocha

Victim Statement:  Sentencing

March 16, 2005

D. HARRIS: Next will be Rose Rocha.

JUDGE: Rose Rocha.

ROCHA: When I look at Laci's picture, I still can't believe that we'll never see her again. It seems as if the next time we go to Modesto she'll be there with a big smile and welcoming personality. I keep asking Brent When is it going to sink in, but I don't think it ever really will. At the time of this tragedy Laci was entering one of the most wonderful phases of her life, a time that she had been waiting for for so long. She was finally going to be a mother. She was so excited. Conner would have been two months older than my youngest son. And to think that you, Scott, asked to touch my pregnant stomach just days after you killed Laci and Baby Conner, that disgusts me. As I watch my son grow, I can't help to think that Conner should be doing the same things right now. Conner should be saying words, making animal sounds and giving hugs and kisses, and Laci should be experiencing all these things with him. She never had the opportunity to do that. She never had the opportunity to have her son look into her eyes and to hear him say Mommy, or have him run to her with his arms open when he sees her come into a room. And Baby Conner, he was never able to see the face of the person that he heard talking while he was in Laci's womb, the person that loved him so much, even though she hadn't met him yet. And one person decided to take that all away from them because of his own selfish reasons. You didn't think about your wife that you had spent the past five years with or of your own son, who was your blood. He could have brought you a joy so great that you could never imagine, if you just would have given him a chance. You only thought about yourself. No one made you do what you did. You chose to do it on your own, and now you have to be held accountable. I hope that while you're in your cell, Scott, waiting for the day of your execution, you stop thinking about yourself for one minute and you start reflecting on what you've done. I know that Laci is with Conner right now and she'll be with him forever. And that's one thing you weren't able to take away from them. One day I'll have to explain to my children that they had an Aunty Laci and a cousin Conner, but they're not with us because a mean, evil person took them away from us; and, Scott, you're that evil person. And you're going to pay what you, for what you have done, not only in this life, but for eternity.