Nikiesha Warren survived an attempted "execution" that left her with 16 plates in her head and face. But on Tuesday she focused on the lives of two slain children.
"My children were my whole being. We talked about everything. To have it all taken away from you and not have that same confidence, now I just live," Warren told an Allegheny County judge during the hearing for the man who bludgeoned her two teenagers with a 20-pound dumbbell and nearly killed her.
"I know they're still with me. And I'm honored to say I've made it through the execution he tried to impose upon me."
Keith Scott, 43, formerly of Penn Hills, avoided a possible death sentence yesterday by pleading guilty to six charges including two counts of first-degree murder and aggravated assault for the Oct. 14, 2008, attack on Warren, Ieisha Drake, 18, and Na'im Drake, 14, at their Penn Hills home.
The plea deal included a sentence of two consecutive life prison terms with no chance of parole and an additional 10 to 20 years. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to no longer seek the death penalty.
"Do I feel hatred⢠No. I'm God's child," Warren said. "Today is the last time (Scott's) name will be mentioned in my presence. Today I know they're smiling. I know there's closure."
Warren said that Scott was out of a job and out of money when he called her the week of the killings. The two had dated for three months in 2000 and were friends. She said they lost touch when he served prison time for drugs.
Warren said she bought him dinner the night before the attack and he asked her to marry him.
"I said, '10 years ago I dated you for three months -- that's all,'" Warren said.
The next morning Warren and her daughter Ieisha were attacked with 20-pound dumbbells while they slept. Scott smoked cigarettes and wrote apology letters while he waited for the third victim to come home from school, police and prosecutors said.
The blows smashed her teeth and shattered every bone in Warren's face except her lower chin. Her daughter, who graduated from Penn Hills High School the previous spring and planned to attend Lincoln University, died in her bed. Na'im, who played freshman football at Linton Middle School, died on the couch.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry to the families," said Scott, who hung his head as Assistant District Attorney Lisa Pellegrini recounted the day's events. "I can't think of any other words to say but I'm sorry."
Warren said she has moved on with her life.
"I embrace God and I talk to them daily. I don't like to go to the cemetery because I don't like to look down. Down is negative. Up is positive," Warren said. "I want to make it to heaven. They were my children but they were truly His and they were angelic while they were here."
