Mr. Mitchell, anything you'd like to say?
I have. I have really not shown
much emotion for two years. And.
Today family coming up.
That hurts. That hurt me.
And I take responsibility for what I did.
One CB Miss back was my defender
from day one, I told him.
I take responsibility,
whatever the court sees fit.
I will live or die by.
But my motion today is for
the family and I'm glad I said
something before it all came down.
And I just want to repeat.
If this helps the family at all.
Then I'm sorry.
Sir.
Well, I. Agree with Mr Falik and that
I did not get much sleep last night.
Because this case is. Very unusual.
None of us have seen a case like this.
Nor, I think, do we expect to
see another one like this.
And it's very difficult
for a sentencing judge.
To look at a case that's really one
that nobody else has ever sentenced
before with these circumstances.
And knowing what the jury found.
So in this case, the jury did
find several aggravating factors,
including the emotional harm to the families,
which I think the victims for
speaking are the one that spoke
on behalf of the victims today.
I cannot imagine what it would have
been like to get a phone call that my
loved one who had donated their body.
Thinking that their last wish
was being fulfilled to help.
Somebody else.
Somebody else who was going to have
medical struggles or had the same things.
In fact,
I have people in my life who this is their.
This is their wish.
They want to be donated to science because.
They feel like doctors could learn from them.
And then these families received
a phone call that that absolutely
did not happen and instead the
precious bodies of their loved ones
that have been knit together at
one point and were perfect people.
Those parts were now scattered in
the forests of the Prescott area.
I can't imagine what that is.
So I I give such.
Consideration to the emotional harm.
Because I really.
I have empathy and I I'm very
sorry that this happened.
Of course,
the jury also found the
value of the property taken.
This is valuable certainly to
the medical injury industry,
more so to the families.
And then of course, there was a financial.
Number attached to these parts.
The age of some of the victims was
also found to be an aggravating factor.
The jury also found that the 1st 24
counts did occur on a separate occasion,
then the 2nd counts 25 through 29 and
then I previously found at the end
of your trial that you had one non
historical prior felony conviction.
So therefore you must be sentenced
as a category one repetitive
offender or a category one offender
on counts one through 24.
And then for 25 through 29,
as the state has explained,
because those were separate
occasion that could be category 2.
Mitigation here I agree with Mr Falik.
You certainly expressed remorse.
And expressed on the stand that you
wished this was not the course of
action that you would have taken
because of the victims families finding
out and the harm that the certainly
that they certainly experience.
The nature and circumstances
of this case are very unique.
Even the COVID 2020 time set aside.
Mr Mitchell's been very clear from
the beginning that he was trying to
bring attention to the bad practices
of the body donation industry,
and I think that Agent Johnson
supported that in his
testimony that this industry
does have concerning practices.
This was not the way to bring that
to light because you harmed all
of these families in the process,
but I understand the
nature and circumstances,
so I will find that as a mitigator.
And you have expressed remorse
and you have cooperated.
When I looked at the amount of
time that the state was requesting,
I have to say it did.
Take me by surprise only because.
I sentence people who literally
kill other people, and sometimes
they don't get that amount of time.
And these loved ones,
these wonderful humans had already
passed and some natural way or
fighting a disease and it was
their last wish that was taken,
which is very valuable.
I'm not discounting that.
But it's really hard to to weigh all
this out and do what's appropriate knowing.
People who kill people don't necessarily get.
20 years in prison.
And I'm not holding Mr little
note here to put on the record.
I'm not holding your right to exercise
your jury file against you in any way.
I don't think that that.
Is appropriate and I think
everyone has the right to a trial.
So all I can do is do what I
think is best and that is,
you know, I I pray about it,
I think about it and I I put a lot of.
Myself into deciding these types of
cases and that's what I've done here.
I do think the most appropriate way
to view this is to look at counts
one through 24 as like a spree,
a crime spree.
And so I'm going to consider the
mitigating the mitigators in
that I'm going to run one through
24 concurrent to one another.
But I'm going to give an aggravated sentence.
So each count one through 24
will be 2 1/2 years.
But those one through 24,
excuse me,
we'll run concurrent to one another.
25 to 29 would be a separate spree.
Separate occasion as a category two
also aggravated 3.75 years on each.
Count those to run concurrently
to one another,
but consecutive to one through 24,
for a total amount in prison of 6.25 years.
The credit to be credited to the
defendant is 671 days of pre
sentence incarceration credit.
Defendant is eligible for
community supervision.
Defendant shall pay restitution.
Restitution will remain open to the victim.
Should there be any restitution requests,
you will receive notice of that.
If you want more information,
we can set a hearing.
You can request a hearing from the court.
Otherwise an order will be entered
for you to pay any restitution.
Restitution will take priority and
if there is any restitution order,
up to 50% of the DC spendable account
shall be withheld for any restitution.
I'm going to impose a fine in this case.
Of $2500 + 78% in surcharges.
There are some statutory assessments
a $2.00 victim rights assessment,
a $9 victim rights assessment,
a $13.00 penalty assessment
probation surcharge of $20,
public defender assessment fee of $25,
a time payment fee of $20.
All financial obligation shall be reduced
to a criminal restitution order upon
the defendants release from custody.
You do have the right to petition.
I'm sorry.
You do have the right to appeal
from the orders of the court
and have a lawyer represent you.
If you can't afford a lawyer,
one will be appointed to you.
If you can't afford copies of the
necessary records and transcripts,
they will be provided to you at no cost.
If you want to appeal,
you have to file your notice of appeal
within 20 days of today's date,
or you lose the right to seek that relief.
You'll have to sign for a copy
of your rights,
which Mr Fallick will have for you there.
You, I have to give you the new advisory.
As a second and subsequent felony offender,
you have the right to apply,
to have the judgment of conviction set
aside and have your civil rights restored.
The application restore
your civil rights cannot.
I'm sorry, you can not apply
to this is the wrong one.
Strike that you do have the right to have
the judgment of conviction set aside
and have your civil rights restored.
That includes the right to vote,
serve as a juror,
hold public office and firearm rights.
The application to restore your civil
rights cannot be filed until you have
completed your sentence and received
an absolute discharge from prison.
And the applications can be
obtained from the clerk's office
at no cost and no filing fee.
At this time, defendant is remanded
to the custody of the sheriff,
who's authorized to deliver the
defendant to the custody of the
Arizona Department of Corrections,
which is authorized to carry out the
terms of imprisonment set forth herein.
The Clerk of the Court shall remit
a copy of this order together
with the pre sentence report,
any medical and mental health
records and reports, if any,
to the Arizona Department of Corrections.
Anything ever gotten, anything?
Anything I forgotten, Miss Harris?
Mr Faulk? No,
your honor. Thank you,
Mr. Mitchell. Best of luck to you, Sir.
No, your honor. Thank you.
Thank you. We'll be at recess. Alright.
So I'm right here. It's the
same thing as that. Your post.
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