Hope: A Memoir of Survival

by Amanda Berry

In exchange for the guilty plea, McGinty had not sought the death penalty, and the case was wrapped up at remarkable speed—less than ninety days from arrest to sentencing. Castro had agreed to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus a thousand years—a sentence intended to convey the community’s revulsion at his crimes. McGinty also said it was a message to other criminals who might want to become famous by copying Castro. All that was left now was for Judge Michael Russo to formally accept the deal at the sentencing. Wooley, Hilow, and Kimmel wanted a low-key hearing. Given the extraordinary interest in the case, they had no desire to have Amanda, Gina, and Michelle endure a very public confrontation with Castro. The county prosecutor, an elected official who never shied away from the media spotlight, disagreed. McGinty said Castro’s crimes should be aired as publicly and in as much detail as possible. He said he wanted to leave no doubt in Judge Russo’s mind that he should approve the sentencing deal, and to leave a court record so damning that no judge, even decades in the future, would ever consider letting Castro out of prison. He wanted all the victims to testify.