Read Sharon Wand's full statement
Click here for a full transcript of Sharon Wand's statement.
DARLINGTON - Amid tears and chilling new details, the second of two Argyle brothers convicted in the deaths of three young boys was sentenced to life in prison Thursday, Aug. 22, in Lafayette County Circuit Court.
Jeremy Wand, 19, faces a minimum of 35 years in prison on three concurrent life sentences, one each for his three nephews who died in a house fire in Argyle last year. Taking into account the near year he has already spent in jail, he will be able to petition the parole board for release when he's in his mid-50s, in 2047.
Judge Thomas Vale sentenced Wand hours after denying the teen's request to withdraw his guilty pleas from June. Vale ruled the evidence is too feeble to support Wand's claim that he deserves to take back his pleas and take the case to trial.
Vale cautioned Wand his eligibility for parole is no guarantee of release, and he could spend the rest of his life imprisoned.
The sentencing brings to a close a case that has taken several unexpected turns over nearly a year and weighed heavily on the community consciousness. Wand and his brother Armin Wand, 33, are convicted of conspiring to set the older brother's rental home on fire in order to kill his wife and children and cash out their life insurance.
The house on Oak Street lit up in flames shortly after 3 a.m. Friday, Sept. 7, killing the older brother's three boys, Allan Wand, 7, Jeffery Wand, 5, and Joseph "Jo Jo" Wand, 3. The fire burned the boys' mother Sharon Wand, 27, so severely she spent months in a coma and lost the fetus she was carrying. The Wands' fourth child, Jessica, now 3, also survived.
The older brother was sentenced in April to three consecutive life sentences, without chance for parole. Unlike his younger brother, who was charged as party to a crime, Armin Wand is believed to have been the instigator and leader in the arson plot. He told investigators Jeremy agreed to help him for a $300 cut of the life insurance pay-out.
In court Thursday, prosecutors brought forward some new testimony revealing both brothers acted with equal callousness and caused their family horrific suffering.
According to William Boswell, the deputy state fire marshal, and chief investigator James Sielehr, the brothers set fires in the living room and in the bedroom where Allen and Jeffery were sleeping, then shut and locked the door to the bedroom so they couldn't escape. The boys in the bedroom burned alive before they died. Sharon, who was sleeping in the living room, woke up to the sound of Jeffery's cries of pain.
She woke up on fire and "in a state of panic," Sielehr said. All of her clothing and parts of her body were on fire. She ran outside, rolled on the grass to extinguish the flames and then ran back into the burning house to save her children.
"Her actions were nothing short of heroic," Sielehr said. Photos from the scene show a bloody palm print on an exterior wall and blood by a window. Both later tested positive as Sharon's blood.
Both brothers ran out of the house when Sharon awoke and made no attempts to save the children, Sielehr said. Neither was injured, though Armin may have singed off some hair on his hand lighting one of the starter fires. Armin stayed outside the home, while Jeremy continued running to his parents' home nearby.
He showed up at his high school later that morning wearing a "unique" shirt he had been identified as wearing at the fire scene, Sielehr said. A witness at the school reported he smelled of smoke.
'He really is a good guy'
The case against Jeremy Wand was recently complicated when letters purportedly from Sharon Wand were sent in late July to the court and to area news outlets, including The Monroe Times. In them, she professed love for her husband, said she didn't want to go through with the divorce she filed for in January and proclaimed him and his brother innocent. Similar statements were also posted to her Facebook page.
Jeremy's request to withdraw his pleas - his second change-of-heart during the course of the case - was based partially on Sharon's new statements and he fought for it in a heated exchange with prosecutor Roy Korte Thursday morning before the judge tossed it out.
Sharon has since gone through with the divorce from her husband, and her attorney - while not addressing the letters specifically - explained she has been navigating difficult circumstances and enduring intense pressure.
Korte called the letters "phony" and said Sharon denies ever writing them.
Whether or not she wrote the letters, Sharon's testimony in court Thursday revealed just how complicated her feelings are about Jeremy.
Through her sharp sobs, she addressed him personally.
"Jeremy, I really believe you loved the boys. You played with them, hugged them, talked with them about everything, baby-sat for them, and made them feel special. My kids looked at you as a role model," she said. She shared heartbreaking, bittersweet details of how she considered Jeremy like a son, how he'd done dishes for her and helped out around the house, and how he'd stood up for her when Armin was threatening and abusive.
"Do you think they died remembering the fun times with their uncle or do you think they died terrified, confused and alone?" she asked.
At Armin's sentencing in April, she rolled into the courtroom in a wheelchair and cried silently as her statement was read on her behalf. She told Armin he should be locked up in a cage. For Jeremy's sentencing, she read her statement herself. She walked in without assistance, wearing a short-sleeved shirt that showed her arms, disfigured by burns, and her scarred throat.
"Jeremy, I feel so sorry for you. You are so young and in so many ways a good person," she said. "I don't understand, Jeremy. Why would you go along with this?"
By the end of her statement, her face was blotchy and raw with grief.
"I still love you but I hate you for what you did," she told Jeremy.
When asked if she thought Jeremy should be eligible for parole, she waffled.
"I really don't know. He really is a good guy," she said. "If he can change his ways, I think he can do it."
'An ordinary man'
Meanwhile, Jeremy showed very little obvious emotion but his eyes were red and wet. When given an opportunity to speak, he mumbled "No thanks," then said louder, "No, thank you."
His public defender Frank Medina said Jeremy is locked up within himself and "can't cope with the horror of what has happened."
Judge Vale, in his final remarks, said it is significant that Jeremy was not the instigator of the arson and he deserves some lenience for this. But his involvement in helping light the fire and his ultimate failure to save the children is also significant, Vale added.
"All that it takes for evil to triumph is for an ordinary man to do nothing," Vale said. "You did nothing."
Jeremy Wand, 19, faces a minimum of 35 years in prison on three concurrent life sentences, one each for his three nephews who died in a house fire in Argyle last year. Taking into account the near year he has already spent in jail, he will be able to petition the parole board for release when he's in his mid-50s, in 2047.
Judge Thomas Vale sentenced Wand hours after denying the teen's request to withdraw his guilty pleas from June. Vale ruled the evidence is too feeble to support Wand's claim that he deserves to take back his pleas and take the case to trial.
Vale cautioned Wand his eligibility for parole is no guarantee of release, and he could spend the rest of his life imprisoned.
The sentencing brings to a close a case that has taken several unexpected turns over nearly a year and weighed heavily on the community consciousness. Wand and his brother Armin Wand, 33, are convicted of conspiring to set the older brother's rental home on fire in order to kill his wife and children and cash out their life insurance.
The house on Oak Street lit up in flames shortly after 3 a.m. Friday, Sept. 7, killing the older brother's three boys, Allan Wand, 7, Jeffery Wand, 5, and Joseph "Jo Jo" Wand, 3. The fire burned the boys' mother Sharon Wand, 27, so severely she spent months in a coma and lost the fetus she was carrying. The Wands' fourth child, Jessica, now 3, also survived.
The older brother was sentenced in April to three consecutive life sentences, without chance for parole. Unlike his younger brother, who was charged as party to a crime, Armin Wand is believed to have been the instigator and leader in the arson plot. He told investigators Jeremy agreed to help him for a $300 cut of the life insurance pay-out.
In court Thursday, prosecutors brought forward some new testimony revealing both brothers acted with equal callousness and caused their family horrific suffering.
According to William Boswell, the deputy state fire marshal, and chief investigator James Sielehr, the brothers set fires in the living room and in the bedroom where Allen and Jeffery were sleeping, then shut and locked the door to the bedroom so they couldn't escape. The boys in the bedroom burned alive before they died. Sharon, who was sleeping in the living room, woke up to the sound of Jeffery's cries of pain.
She woke up on fire and "in a state of panic," Sielehr said. All of her clothing and parts of her body were on fire. She ran outside, rolled on the grass to extinguish the flames and then ran back into the burning house to save her children.
"Her actions were nothing short of heroic," Sielehr said. Photos from the scene show a bloody palm print on an exterior wall and blood by a window. Both later tested positive as Sharon's blood.
Both brothers ran out of the house when Sharon awoke and made no attempts to save the children, Sielehr said. Neither was injured, though Armin may have singed off some hair on his hand lighting one of the starter fires. Armin stayed outside the home, while Jeremy continued running to his parents' home nearby.
He showed up at his high school later that morning wearing a "unique" shirt he had been identified as wearing at the fire scene, Sielehr said. A witness at the school reported he smelled of smoke.
'He really is a good guy'
The case against Jeremy Wand was recently complicated when letters purportedly from Sharon Wand were sent in late July to the court and to area news outlets, including The Monroe Times. In them, she professed love for her husband, said she didn't want to go through with the divorce she filed for in January and proclaimed him and his brother innocent. Similar statements were also posted to her Facebook page.
Jeremy's request to withdraw his pleas - his second change-of-heart during the course of the case - was based partially on Sharon's new statements and he fought for it in a heated exchange with prosecutor Roy Korte Thursday morning before the judge tossed it out.
Sharon has since gone through with the divorce from her husband, and her attorney - while not addressing the letters specifically - explained she has been navigating difficult circumstances and enduring intense pressure.
Korte called the letters "phony" and said Sharon denies ever writing them.
Whether or not she wrote the letters, Sharon's testimony in court Thursday revealed just how complicated her feelings are about Jeremy.
Through her sharp sobs, she addressed him personally.
"Jeremy, I really believe you loved the boys. You played with them, hugged them, talked with them about everything, baby-sat for them, and made them feel special. My kids looked at you as a role model," she said. She shared heartbreaking, bittersweet details of how she considered Jeremy like a son, how he'd done dishes for her and helped out around the house, and how he'd stood up for her when Armin was threatening and abusive.
"Do you think they died remembering the fun times with their uncle or do you think they died terrified, confused and alone?" she asked.
At Armin's sentencing in April, she rolled into the courtroom in a wheelchair and cried silently as her statement was read on her behalf. She told Armin he should be locked up in a cage. For Jeremy's sentencing, she read her statement herself. She walked in without assistance, wearing a short-sleeved shirt that showed her arms, disfigured by burns, and her scarred throat.
"Jeremy, I feel so sorry for you. You are so young and in so many ways a good person," she said. "I don't understand, Jeremy. Why would you go along with this?"
By the end of her statement, her face was blotchy and raw with grief.
"I still love you but I hate you for what you did," she told Jeremy.
When asked if she thought Jeremy should be eligible for parole, she waffled.
"I really don't know. He really is a good guy," she said. "If he can change his ways, I think he can do it."
'An ordinary man'
Meanwhile, Jeremy showed very little obvious emotion but his eyes were red and wet. When given an opportunity to speak, he mumbled "No thanks," then said louder, "No, thank you."
His public defender Frank Medina said Jeremy is locked up within himself and "can't cope with the horror of what has happened."
Judge Vale, in his final remarks, said it is significant that Jeremy was not the instigator of the arson and he deserves some lenience for this. But his involvement in helping light the fire and his ultimate failure to save the children is also significant, Vale added.
"All that it takes for evil to triumph is for an ordinary man to do nothing," Vale said. "You did nothing."