January 13, 2009Case # 108270027-028State of MD vs. Dajuan DawardVICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT FROM EMILIA MILLER (principle victim),CLAUDIA BRAND (daughter & witness), AND MICHAEL BRAND (son-in-law,secondary victim, & witness):The August 31, 2008, mugging of my 67-year-old mother-in-law (Mrs. EmiliaMiller) by Dajuan Daward (a.k.a. Daugherty) and his partner (who fled with her purseand has not been apprehended)--as well as the assailant’s subsequent knife threat againstme--has caused my family major stress and emotional trauma. Moreover, it hasdrastically altered our perception of Baltimore—we no longer feel safe there, and we onlygo into the city when we absolutely have to.The greatest and most direct impact of this heinous crime, however, has been onMrs. Miller. Not only does she no longer feel safe when visiting us from her home inJennings, LA, but she now even feels ill-at-ease whenever she’s around any group of young adults or teenagers because she fears that she may be attacked again.In addition to the emotional trauma that Mrs. Miller suffered from being assaultedand robbed in broad daylight (at 1:15 p.m.), she also sustained physical injuries from being pushed down on the sidewalk and then dragged several feet by Mr. Daward whowas trying to pull her purse away from her. She ended up with several abrasions on her left arm, right leg, and right hip, as well as an injured left hand. Additionally, she hadrecently had surgery to repair two herniated disks in her neck, and this physical assaulthampered her recovery and added to the pain that she was already experiencing.This crime has also cost Mrs. Miller, my wife, and me a lot of time: talking to the police, discussing the case with various people from the State’s Attorney’s Office and theBaltimore court system, filling out paperwork, making phone calls, coming intoBaltimore multiple times for court-related business, and, especially, canceling andreplacing all of the cards and IDs that were in Mrs. Miller’s stolen purse.Last, but certainly not least, this robbery has been a financial hardship to Mrs.Miller because the total value of the cash and personal items in her stolen purse came toover $500.00! Mrs. Miller and her husband have a very limited income, and they couldnot afford to replace most of the stolen items. Moreover, her purse contained a Nikondigital camera with about six months of photographs on the memory discs—precious personal treasures which can never be replaced!In conclusion, as punishment for Dajuan Daward’s brazen assault and robbery of a defenseless, elderly lady and his threat to cut me with his knife--all of whichdemonstrate a general disrespect for other members of society and their personal property, as well as for the laws that are designed to protect them--my family and I feelthat he should be sentenced to the maximum number of years possible in prison. Then
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Victim Impact Statement (Michael's Version)
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| Category: | Uncategorized. |
| Rating: | (2 Ratings) |
| Upload Date: | 01/14/2009 |
| Copyright: | Attribution Non-commercial |
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