When family members of Arnold B. "Bill" Mills gathered to witness the sentencing of a man who killed their father, they were hoping to hear words of remorse. Those words were never spoken.
"I was hoping that he would at least say he was sorry for what he did to my dad and what he’s done to us," said Mills’ daughter Deanna Fuston only minutes after Knox Circuit Judge Greg Lay handed down a 17-year sentence for Douglas Mabe.
However, Fuston said she didn’t know why she was expecting such an apology. "He’s never shown remorse in all of these five years. I don’t know why I expected it today," she added.
In late July, Mabe, accompanied by attorney Jane Butcher, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the December 2004 death of Mills, whose body was found by family members in the parking lot of the West Knox Elementary School.
Fuston said that although the sentencing is the final chapter in their long court battle to see justice done, nothing will ever mend the hurt their family has suffered.
"It will never be over for us," she said,.
During Friday’s court proceedings, Lay mentioned that he had given consideration to several Victim’s Impact Statements sent in by Mill’s family members. Fuston said that while some of her sisters chose to mail those directly in to Frankfort, she and sister Sherry Amonette sent theirs to the local Victim’s Advocate so that Mabe could read them. "We wanted him to know how we felt because we never got the chance to tell him what he did to our lives. I wanted him to know. He had the opportunity to read those, but we don’t know if he did or not."
Subtracting the 524 days of jail time credit, Mabe sentence will be 15 years and 196 days.
