Idaho Sentencing

...Now that I accomplished another milestone in my recovery which was the speech at WOAR's Take it all Back event it was time to concentrate on the victims impact statement for the Idaho court. The writing Laura had me complete early on in counseling would become very valuable since I had written my feelings down when they were very raw. I was going to use those words along with, thanks to all my therapy, my ability to now step back and verbalize how my life was directly affected by Marsalis' assault on me 5 years earlier. The words flowed easily and once finished I read it over and over and made my edits. I brought it into my next counseling session with Laura for her to read and us to discuss. She liked what I had written and made a few suggestions which I later implemented. On May 18th I emailed the victims impact statement to the Idaho Department of Corrections. I let Joe Khan know of the phone conversation I had with the pre-sentencing investigator and subsequent email containing the statement. A few days later I was contacted again to be notified that the sentencing date was set for June 30th.

There were nothing I could do now but wait which I had been doing for the past few years. Waiting for the preliminary hearing, waiting for the trial, waiting for the sentencing, waiting for his extradition, waiting for the Idaho trial. It never got any easier. The other victim that I had become friends with after meeting at the ABC News interview kept in touch frequently via email and phone calls. She lived in Virginia at the time so we didn't get to meet up for lunch or coffee like normal friendships but then again our friendship was born out of something abnormal. She had also submitted a victims impact statement. Finally on June 30th I received a call from Joe Kahn who was in Idaho with the victim who had been Marsalis' girlfriend. He shared the news that Marsalis was handed a Life sentence to be served consecutively from the  Philadelphia sentencing. I was excited beyond belief. Once again he told me the statement I submitted made an impact on the judges decision who also expressed his disgust with Marsalis the similar to the judge in Philadelphia.

This sentence meant many things to me. First, it was all over now. There would be no more trials. My participation was complete. Second, Marsalis would never see the light of day again. He will spend the rest of his life in prison and I (if given the chance) will dance on his grave. Third, I will get to live out the rest of my life knowing I was safe and he will never hurt another woman ever again! The words I spoke that day were "I feel like I can breathe again".

Later that evening I received an email from the ABC news associate producer with the sentencing information. They had been there for the trial and sentence as a part of the special to be aired including my interview. I also learned that Marsalis and his attorney (a different one than in Philadelphia) granted an interview to also be conducted by David Muir for the special. The two other women who participated in the interview and I were able to watch the sentencing footage aired on a local Idaho station and we shared our feelings with each other via email including our speculation and anticipation of the interview by Marsalis.

The next day on July 1st Joe Khan emailed to tell me that on the same day of the sentencing the Pennsylvania Superior Court unanimously rejected Marsalis' appeal. He had one last shot with the PA Supreme Court but that was unlikely due to the unanimous decision of the lower court and even if heard, the justices have excellent decisions relating to sexual assault prosecutions. Everything was moving in the right direction as far as his victims were concerned and the wrong direction for Marsalis...