Most victims enter the criminal justice system by chance, not by choice.
After the court proceedings are concluded, the law gives victims the right to personally address the court and the convicted about their feelings. This process is called an “allocution.”
The Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office also gives victims the unique opportunity to publicly post their feelings about their journey through the justice system. The “Victim’s Voice” features victims’ allocutions, press statements, heart-felt letters or anything they want to share.
The Victim’s Voice is a place where victims can be heard – even after the courtroom is clear.
- Allocution from Elias Shiber whose brother, Ehab, was fatally shot by Wendell Halkmon during a convenience store robbery
• - Victim’s allocution to Roy Lester Harrison, who abused her as a child
• - Allocution from Donna Syrios whose daughter, Sheryl Bennett, was fatally shot by her estranged husband Dalton Bennett
• - Allocution from Rodney Peregoy whose daughter, Tana Todd, was fatally shot by Dalton Bennett
• - Allocution from the victim of Guillermo Marcelo Vidaurre, who was convicted in March 2013 of aggravated sexual assault of a child
º - Allocution from Ashley Lightfoot whose sister, Michelle, was killed in a drunk driving crash in February 2012
° - Allocutions from sisters Niki Brawley and Kali Forrester whose little brother, Eric Forrester, 17, was shot and killed in 2010 when he came home for lunch and interrupted a robbery
° - Allocution from Mimi Elqutob whose father, Azmi, was fatally shot during a convenience store robbery
° - Allocution from Cindy King whose 70-year-old father, Jerry Winton, was runover and killed in 2011 by Floyd Rigsby
° - Allocution from a woman whose boyfriend was sentenced to 10 years in prison in January 2013 for sexually assaulting her
° - Allocution from Shirley Thomas whose son, Jarami, was killed in 2011 over a $40 Super Bowl bet
° - Allocution from David Lai whose nephew, Christopher Glover, who was fatally stabbed in June 2011
° - Allocution from Belinda Adame whose sister, Brenda Salinas, was fatally shot in 2010 by Gilmer Vertiz.
° - Letter from 9-year-old Chilli Vasquez to defendant Jeremy Adrian Solis, who was sentenced to the maximum 10 years in prison in November 2012 for driving drunk and causing a wreck that left the child paralzyed.
° - Allocution from woman whose husband was sentenced to 18 years in prison in October 2012 for sexually abusing their son
° - Allocution from Theda Richardson-Walker, wife of Willie Walker who was robbed and fatally killed in January 2009 in the Fort Worth nightclub where he worked as manager
° - Statement issued by NorthPointe Baptist Church and First Baptist Church of Arlington after killer Stephen Nelson got the death penalty in October 2012 for suffocating NorthPointe pastor Clint Dobson.
° - Statement to Roland Dixon, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison in September 2012 for three charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child
° - Allocution from the sister of Preston Hunt, who was fatally stabbed in September 2011 by Clifton Wesley
° - Allocutions from the mother and sister of Stephenie Caddy-Aqqad, who was fatally shot in the back by her boyfriend in 2011
° - An allocution from the family of Ronald Watkins, a homeless man who was brutally stomped to death in 2008 by Andre Cross.
° - An allocution from Lawana Siney whose ex-husband, Kevin Safford, a former state trooper, was sentenced to four years probation in August 2012 for stalking her.
° - A statement from the family of John Miller, who was killed on Nov. 30, 1982, inside his Fort Worth home.
° - A statement from the family of Rick and Suzy Wamsley, who were killed inside their Mansfield home on December 11, 2003.