The sentencing hearing for the Cleveland man responsible for the kidnapping and rape of three women for more than a decade has gotten underway.
Heavily shackled and wearing his orange jail jumpsuit, Ariel Castro was led into the courtroom at 9:23 a.m. He's expected to give a statement explaining his life, which he said previously had been impacted by being sexually abused as a child and a long-time addiction to pornography.
"I want to apologize to the victims,'' Castro said at the outset.
His attorney, Craig Weintraub, said Castro has "significant undisclosed mental illness."
Castro, 53, pleaded guilty to 937 charges last week, including aggravated murder, rape and kidnapping, to avoid the death penalty conviction. Under terms of the plea deal, he'll get life imprisonment, plus 1,000 years, with no chance for parole.
Still, the sentencing hearing "is about making clear this man's acts had on his victims and this community,'' says Joseph Frolik, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office.
Prosecutors plan to lay out a compelling case on how the former school bus driver's actions impacted his victims' lives for more than a decade.
Before the hearing, which was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., but delayed 25 minutes, prosecutors set up a model of Castro's house, which was expected to show where and how Castro held and tormented his victims.
Castro kidnapped Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight between 2002 and 2004, fathering a Christmas Day child with Berry, now 6, He also beat and starved Knight when she became pregnant, forcing her to miscarry five times.
The three have rarely been seen in public since they were rescued from Castro's home in May. Berry, 27, appeared on stage at a Nelly concert two days after Castro's plea, while DeJesus was seen as a tall privacy fence was built around her home last weekend. use.
Neither Frolik or Jones Day, the law firm representing the victims, would confirm if they'll testify.
"We've got a list of potential witnesses, but we're still working on our game plan,'' Frolik says. "We understand we're not putting on a criminal trial. But we're glad at the prospect of closure for the victims and the community."
CNN reported that Knight would speak, citing Castro's sister and an unnamed official.
In a memorandum filed Wednesday night, prosecutors say they intend to detail how Castro lured the three women to his house, then used physical and mental restraints to control them for a decade.
The three women held captive in the run-down home kept diaries documenting the physical and sexual abuse they suffered on a daily basis, prosecutors said
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