By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Family members of the victims that Donald Hoffman murdered over Labor Day weekend confronted Hoffman in court Wednesday as they tried to move on from the tragedy that befell their lives.
Brenda Lauthers, Ken Hensley, Donna Hardymon, and Macey Chatman spoke before the court , some asked for the death penalty while others asked why Hoffman killed Freelin Hensley, Gerald Smith, Darrel Lewis, and Bill Jack Chatman.
Brenda Lauthers, Freelin Hensley’s sister, spoke in a prepared statement calling for Hoffman to be given the death penalty on behalf of Mike Lewis, brother of Darrel Lewis.
“Dear judge, I know your job is very tough and I am sure you would want justice done. I heard you were going to let Hoffman have life in prison and not death. I think death would be what he should get. My brother Darrell Lewis and the three other men never had a chance. They are dead, and we as the family of these dead men are a heartbroken people from all this. We want Don to die just like he did to them,” Lauthers read.
Ken Hensley, brother of Freelin Hensley, spoke to the court second and asked Hoffman why he committed the crimes.
“It’s hard to understand how or why you done the things that you done to him. Each of us would have done anything for him, and wished we could have been there to protect him, and keep him in our lives,” Hensley said. “He was taken from us well before his time. We miss him each day, his love, his companionship, his advice, his smile.”
“The loss is a nightmare that we cannot escape,” Hensley continued. “We have been robbed, cheated, and deprived of our friend, companion, father, and grandfather, nothing can be said; nothing can be done to fill the voids in our hearts from the absence. We loved him dearly. No one can ever take his place, and we will carry his loss forever.”
A part of his statement can be seen in the video below.
Freelin Hensley’s daughter Donna Hardymon spoke third before the court saying that she no longer feels safe in the town.
“I don’t feel safe in this town no more, and I was born and raised here,” Hardymon continued. “I really want Hoffman to die. I really do. He can’t answer to us why he done it.”
Macey Chatman, daughter of Bill Jack Chatman, spoke last on behalf of the victims’ families cursing Hoffman to a lonely painful life.
“He was a fun-loving, down to earth person. I just don’t get why you would do something like this to my dad. You are a very heartless person. You don’t deserve to be living while my dad is in the ground. I pray you live a very lonely painful life, and I hope you actions will haunt you for the rest of your life. I no longer get to call my dad whenever I want to, or just go over there and hang out. It is your fault that a child will be growing up with one less grandpa in their life. My heart is broken and will be for the rest of my life. I pray you never see daylight again. You don’t deserve to be living, or breathe the same air,” Macey Chatman said.
Family members of Gerald Smith attended the change of plea hearing; however, they did not wish to comment before the court.
After the hearing Ken Hensley said that the sentence brings closure for him.
“I promised my brother I wouldn’t grieve for him until I seen this happen today, see the guy pay for what he done, and be the coward that he is,” Hensley said.
Donna Hardymon explained that she doesn’t feel there will ever be closure on the matter, but felt relief that Hoffman would no longer be in the community.
“There will never be closure. We don’t have our dad, our grandpa, our brother, our son. We don’t have him. We have him in our hearts and our memories, and it does feel good to know that he won’t be Crawford County no more – this monster Donald Hoffman. But I wanted death,” Donna Hardymon said.
For more on the Hoffman verdict visit www.crawfordcountynow.com