The following is the text of a letter from Judy Bowento be read to the court concerning the sentencing of Damien Lewis.

I am Pete’s youngest daughter, Judy.

I’d like to say that I do not support this plea bargain agreement. I vociferously opposed it. I don’t think it is a “bargain” at all for my Dad and Wynona. This cold-blooded, double murder is an act so heinous it cries out for the maximum punishment allowed. I think Damien Lewis deserved to die for his execution style murder of our parents.

Lewis showed no mercy nor hesitation in his brutal violence. He ordered two senior citizens on their knees, too their money, and shot them in the head. This was not an accident. They were returning from an overnight hospital stay. They were in their home. They should have been safe.

Damien Lewis was only thinking about one thing last year on July 10th – HIMSELF. His reason to murder was his desire to cellebrate his birthday outside prison walls. Executing Dad and Wy was no more distressing to him than swatting a fly. An inconvenience. No big deal.

What I see and feel when I think about what he did, what I imagine it was like for Dad and Wy, those minutes that passed by in slow motion, is my darkest nightmare. I see the fear and the horror in my Dad’s eyes as he sees Wy being shot, his anguish at not being able to help her. I feel the pain in his heart as he gasps and cries out, the realization of what has happened his last thought.

I think about Wyona, who didn’t die immediately. I wonder what noise she made that made him shoot her again, and that thought makes me sick. He says he just walked by, heard her, and put another hole in her head.

What reason could there be to show Damien Lewis any mercy? Why should his life be spared? He is an evil, cold-blooded, selfish murderer. He has freely admitted he is guilty of these crimes and he deserves the worst possible punishment.

To you, Damien Lewis, I hope each day of the rest of your life is filled with pain and hurt. I hope each day you tell yourself how stupid you are. I hope no one comes to see you. In 30 days you will turn 22. I am glad your evilness will be caged on that day, and I hope that you will never be a free man on your birthday.

I wish that you could feel the pain and emotions I have endured. You are such a misfit you probably can’t imagine how much this hurts. When you shot Dad and Wy in the head you blew a deep, dark hole in my heart.

After I heard about the murders on the 10:00 news I called my dad. When I couldn’t reach him on the phone I started to panic. The sickening pit in my stomach was spreading with each phone call. The hour and a half drive to Lawrence is still a blure. When I got to Dad’s house I was met with flashing lights and no answers. I had to beg an officer just to confirm, no mistake, it was my dad that was dead. I couldn’t see him, no one would tell me what happened to him, I couldn’t help him. They just took him. I don’t even know when.

My worst fear was that you talked to them, that they had to kneel down, that they were afraid. The day I found out that you executed them on their knees was the day I learned to truly hate. How could you do that?

I loved my Dad very much and I miss him terribly. I still can’t believe that he is gone. He called me on the way home from the hospital that day, probably 45 minutes before you killed him. I repeat that conversation in my head almost every day.

The last thing I would like to say is to my Dad. I tried. I pushed hard for the death penalty. I’m sorry. I love you and I hope you rest in peace.

Judy Bowen