I Hope You Never See the Light of Day Again
State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller said Friday the case against Frank J. Bredt Jr. led to the "most horrendous trial" in his 16 years as a judge. In fact, he had been asked for the first time if he required counseling due to his involvement.
Assistant District Attorney Ryan D. Haggerty said it was the most "depravity and cruelty" he had seen in 12 years as a prosecutor.
Bredt, 34, received Friday the maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison for the 2018 killing of his girlfriend Elisabeth Bell, whom he doused with gasoline and set ablaze after he learned she removed his belongings from her house during a fight over a text message. Bredt had been convicted by an Erie County jury on two charges of second-degree murder – intentional murder and felony murder – on March 29 following a six-day trial.
"It was a ghastly, horrendous crime," Boller said to Bredt on Friday, raising his voice. "You should never see the light of day again as a free man." He then gave Bredt, who was present in a wheelchair, the maximum sentence.
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Frank J. Bredt Jr., 34, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Friday in Erie County Court.
"Hopefully I can wake up tomorrow and I can think about her in happy memories, instead of now when I think about her and all of a sudden being sad," said Cheri Altemoos, the victim's mother, less than a half hour after court adjourned. She said she was pleased with the judge's decision; she had worried Bredt would face a shorter prison time.
"I loved everything he said," Altemoos said of the judge's final words. "I liked his anger. I really, really was so emotionally touched that somebody came down and offered him counseling."
In his closing statement, Assistant District Attorney Haggerty emphasized what Bredt said to his employer during a phone call earlier on the night of the fire: "If any of my [expletive] is missing, I'm going to burn the whole fat [expletive] family's house down." Prosecutors, who used Bredt's boss as a witness, said earlier in the case that Bell took her longtime boyfriend's power tools and motorbike out to the curb because it was garbage night.
"It was a typical thing when they got in a really big fight, she'd toss his [expletive] out, just over the railing," Altemoos said Friday.
In his closing statement, defense attorney Brian Parker said no witness could tell the jury who started the fire and that he did not believe a maximum sentence would be appropriate for his client.
Bredt, wearing a black facemask and orange prison garb, shook his head side to side a few times during the prosecution's closing statement. He spoke briefly after Parker.
"I loved Elisabeth with all my heart and soul, I still do and always will," said Bredt, whose scalp revealed scars from burns suffered in the fire that hospitalized him in ECMC for more than a year. "Losing her is one of the toughest things I've ever had to go through. To her family, friends and daughter, I offer my most sincere condolences." He said he had been advised by his attorneys to not say anything further as the case had not concluded.
Earlier in the sentencing, Altemoos delivered a victim's statement she said she had thought about each night before bed for the four years since her daughter's death.
"I miss her more than I can even explain," Altemoos said, before later adding, "I will never fill this void of losing my daughter. Never.
"She's dead over a motorbike and tools and because he couldn't walk away from a bad relationship," Altemoos added.
Boller advised Altemoos to look after Bell's daughter, Isabella, who was 7 at the time. Prosecutor Rebecca Schnirel had said earlier in the trial that Isabella had run past her mother's burning body on the night of her death, causing second-degree burns to her own feet in the process. What Isabella, now 11, experienced that night was another point Boller made before announcing the maximum sentence.
After experiencing nightmares in which her daughter would be alive, and then be forced to the realization of her death again when she awoke, Altemoos said she's improving slowly since the March convictions.
Jury finds man who set ex-girlfriend on fire guilty of murder
Jurors found Frank J. Bredt Jr. guilty of second-degree murder, or intentional murder, and another count of second-degree murder, also known as felony murder, which alleges Elizabeth Bell, 27, was killed in the course of Bredt committing arson.
"I did feel better after the verdict came in," she said. "I could sleep more, I could sleep better, and put all the emotions I had of anger and sadness and shock and disbelief that this could happen from this person I've known for 17 years ... "
Altemoos, who was at Erie County Court with her son and the victim's brother, Nicholas Altemoos, said she'd told Bredt to just "walk away and don't come back" on several occasions before the fire. Bredt's decision to go to his ex-girlfriend's home was a key point made by Boller, too.
"If you would have just stayed home and not called your employer, you would not be here wearing orange and she'd be alive," Boller said to Bredt before delivering the sentence.
Ben Tsujimoto can be reached at btsujimoto@buffnews.com, at (716) 849-6927 or on Twitter at @Tsuj10.
Source: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/you-should-never-see-the-light-of-day-again-man-who-burned-girlfriend-to-death/article_e54d9aaa-d84d-11ec-921a-87fb27a797de.html
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