FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida man who was convicted of beating a homeless man to death with a baseball bat was sentenced to life in prison Thursday, closing one chapter of a high-profile case that garnered intense national media attention.
Thomas Daugherty, 19, was the second person to be sentenced in the murder of Norris Gaynor, who was beaten to death while sleeping on a park bench on Jan. 12, 2006.
Daugherty's accomplice, Brian Hooks, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday afternoon.
Last month, a Broward jury found both men guilty of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder for their roles in two other attacks against homeless men later that same morning.
"I never meant for any of this to happen. It wasn't supposed to happen," said teary-eyed Daugherty, who addressed the Gaynor family for the first time. "I wasted a human life. I treated him as less than a human and I'm sorry."
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The Gaynor family, who sat through hours of graphic testimony during trial, had few words during sentencing.
But Sam Gaynor, Norris Gaynor's father, sobbed several times while reading his prepared statement. Gaynor's sister, Simone Manning-Moon cried in her father's chest after she finished her brief testimony chronicling her close relationship with her now dead brother.
"Norris had a story like everyone else had a story," she said. "The one thing we have to remember as a society is when we can't do anything else, at the very least we have to exercise compassion for everyone."
Dozens of Daugherty's family members and friends packed Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato's court room in hopes of influencing the judge's decision.
Daugherty's father, mother and aunt addressed the court and related tragic tales of the teen's childhood; from his parent's messy divorce when he was 2 years old to his addiction to crystal meth, marijuana, alcohol and prescription drugs supplied by his own mother.
He started using drugs at the age of 11, family members said.
Daugherty, clad in a red jumpsuit that signifies a prisoner convicted of a violent crime, cried during most of the testimony, occasionally nodding his head to certain stories told from the witness stand.
Daugherty never had a fair shot in life, his family members said.
"He's not a monster. He was a tragedy waiting to happen," said Shirley Perring, his aunt, who affectionately addressed Daugherty as "LT." "He's not a murderer."
But on Jan. 12, 2006, Daugherty became just that.
According to testimony during trial, Hooks and Daugherty led a group of intoxicated teens to go "beat up some bums" for fun.
They first attacked Jacques Pierre as he sat on a bench at Florida Atlantic University's downtown Fort Lauderdale campus. The attack was captured by a surveillance camera, which shows Daugherty and Hooks relentlessly attacking Pierre with baseball bats, hitting the homeless man at least seven times on or near the head.
The shocking video footage was released to the media just hours after the attack and was shown around the world.
Pierre, who testified during the trial, suffered skull fractures and deep lacerations.
The teens then moved on to Esplanade Park, where Daugherty found 45-year-old Gaynor sleeping on a park bench. With his hands elevated over his head, Daugherty brought his wooden bat crashing down on the Gaynor's face, smashing the man's skull, prosecutors said.
As Daugherty bashed Gaynor with his bat, another teen, William Ammons, shot the homeless man with about a dozen pellets from his paintball gun.
On Sept. 24, Ammons was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the attack. He testified against Daugherty and Hooks at trial.
But the teens found a third homeless victim at Church By The Sea. They attacked Raymond Perez as he slept in the church's courtyard.
Hooks carried a golf club. Daugherty continued to use his bat. And Ammons attacked the man with a plastic sword.
Perez, who also testified during trial, suffered broken bones and deep lacerations.
Defense attorneys argued the boys only intended to beat up their victims, not kill them.
