His lips clenched in a frown and his head slightly shaking at times, Chad Baker told a Westmoreland County judge of the grief that a recent jury verdict has failed to erase.
"If I could, I would have stabbed him 1,000 times to bring her back, but it won't," he said. "Life ain't ever going to be the same. Not just for me, but for the rest of this family, kids included."
Baker, of Irwin, was left bleeding on a Greensburg street near the courthouse in February 2004 as his girlfriend, Candace S. Cohen, of Hempfield Township, was suffering from mortal stab wounds in a nearby alleyway.
Their assailant, Jeffrey C. West, 27, of Southwest Greensburg, was sentenced to 26 to 60 years in prison on Tuesday after Judge John E. Blahovec listened to more than two hours of testimony from friends and family on both sides.
In June, a jury found West guilty of third-degree murder and aggravated assault, opting not to rule Cohen's death a first-degree homicide, which would have guaranteed a life sentence.
At trial, West told the jury he "just snapped." Going into yesterday's sentencing hearing, West was facing a maximum of 30 to 60 years in prison.
West and Cohen had met at Mr. Toad's bar on East Otterman Street in the early morning hours of Feb. 24, 2004, at Cohen's request to discuss their failed relationship. West told authorities he brought a double-edged knife to protect himself and he never intended to hurt anyone.
Testifying in his own defense, West said the stabbing will remain in his mind long beyond his prison time. He said the crime left him feeling "free-falling to nowhere."
"It's all I think about anymore. That's it. I don't think of anything else," West said.
Cohen, 20, left behind a daughter, Lexis, now 7. She was working as a beautician and hoped one day to own her own shop. She liked going out to sing karaoke. "Fancy" by country singer Reba McEntire was her favorite song.
Cohen's mother, Diane Demorest, wept on the witness stand yesterday as she recalled her daughter's soft skin on the day she was born. She remembered saying "I love you" to the baby in the maternity ward -- and again to her grown daughter as she died on an operating table.
Cohen was stabbed eight times, including twice in the back, according to investigation reports. Her heart was pierced by the blade. Baker was stabbed four times and found on South Main Street after he chased West.
Demorest was not the only person praying at the hospital.
"It was the hardest thing to ever have to go through," said Kimberly Demorest Mantsch, an aunt, who remembered the family pleading with doctors to do whatever they could. She remembered Cohen's mother saying "don't give up" to her dying daughter.
West's friends and family said the crime has left scars with them, too.
Including West, 11 defense witnesses testified yesterday, asking Blahovec to be lenient to give West another chance at life. West's mother told the court that she claims responsibility for Cohen's death. She said she should have been there to help her son with his personal problems.
"I do blame myself for this tragedy," said Michelle C. Forgie. "I truly am sorry for that. If I could change it I would. ... He isn't a monster. He's a piece of me. I'm never going to turn my back on him. He deserves a chance to prove that he is the person that we all know and love."
West's grandmother, Delores Mastele, said she was present the day West was born. She remembered taking care of him when he was little and too sick to go to day care. Even when he wasn't feeling well, she said he liked to help with what she was doing, such as pushing the grid pattern into peanut butter cookie dough before baking.
Mastele never saw her grandson become violent and said she was shocked when he was charged with homicide.
"I said, 'No, no no.' Anybody but Jeffrey," she told the judge.
Mastele remembered Cohen, too, and Cohen's daughter. They had come with West on Christmas Eve. Lexis wore a velveteen dress that Mastele pinned with a cross.
"She was a nice-looking girl," Mastele said of Cohen. "I'm sorry for the loss, but I don't believe my Jeffrey meant to hurt her."
West read an apology letter to Lexis on the stand, but Demorest said she refuses to give the letter to the young girl, who was not in the courtroom.
"I made bad decisions and I lost control," West said, reading from the letter. "Maybe when I come back, you will understand the problems I was having and forgive me."
Looking intently at Cohen's family and friends, West said he loved Cohen and her daughter.
"I am sorry to Chris, to Diane, to Chad and to everybody else," he said. "I would do anything to ease your pain just a little bit."
West's lawyer, Jerome Tierney, argued that West had no criminal record and had become drug-free during the 18 months he's spent in prison.
West told a psychiatrist that he had consumed a two-week supply of antidepressant pills and a "huge" dose of methadone before going to meet Cohen. Methadone is generally used to wean addicts off heroin.
Though West didn't have a model family life growing up, Tierney said he still wants a chance to have a family of his own.
First Assistant District Attorney Allen Powanda argued for the maximum sentence.
"There was absolutely no provocation," Powanda said. "He stabbed her multiple times."
Blahovec said he felt no need to be lenient. In using a knife, West had to be physically close to a woman he said he loved as he killed her. The judge also believed West would have stabbed anyone who gave chase, whether Baker or a police officer.
"You may think because you're a third-degree murderer, you're not a murderer," Blahovec said. "But you're a murderer."
