Erica Rodriguez
Daisy Henrickson sat quietly wearing a frilly dress playing with a handful of loose coins while her parents testified in a Lake County courtroom about how witnessing her grandfather’s murder affected her young life.
In his final moments alive, Jeffrey Allen Henrickson, Daisy’s grandfather, held then 18-month-old Daisy in his arms when he was shot by his landlord, Pablo Infante, on Oct. 24, 2012. Henrickson, 47, died from bullet wounds to his back, face and chest. Daisy was covered in blood.
On Thursday Circuit Judge William G. Law sentenced Infante, 47, to 31 years in prison after a jury in March found him guilty of second-degree murder.
Daisy, now a bright-eyed 3-year-old with long blond hair, becomes hysterical at the sound of fireworks, her parents said. Following the murder the little girl would often scream for Henrickson and has had trouble sleeping through the night.
“She just would cry and cry,” said Krystal Siroky, Daisy’s 23-year-old mother. “We had to stay up with her all night, rocking her and crying.”
Siroky testified how Henrickson often bought Daisy toys and “smothered her with love.”
On the day of the murder, Henrickson and Tami Vest, the mother of his children, had just returned from a dinner of Chinese food with Daisy when they encountered Infante, who was armed with a gun, at Henrickson’s home south of Tavares. Prosecutors said Infante chased Henrickson around a van and shot his tenant to death. Vest testified she saw Henrickson shield the child from the gunfire with his body.
In the weeks leading up to the murder, Henrickson would call Infante names like “child molester” and “pedophile” following a supposed sexual encounter between Infante and Henrickson’s 21-year-old son. Infante’s defense attorneys argued Infante feared for his life and shot Henrickson in self defense.
Gene Henrickson, Jeffrey Henrickson’s brother, said the prison sentence “definitely wasn’t enough.”
Infante faced up to life in prison for his crime. Assistant State Attorney Hugh Bass pressed for a life sentence, saying he couldn’t think of any action more outrageous or depraved than Infante shooting Henrickson.
Assistant Public Defender Morris Carranza argued Infante before the murder was a “model citizen” who has since “shown remorse” for his actions. Infante had no previous felony convictions on his record, Carranza argued.
Source: orlandosentinel
