For the first time in over six long years, Carol Bennett, a mother who tragically lost her 11-year-old daughter, Abbiegail Smith, has a reason to smile amid her profound sorrow.
It was a battle that began in 2017 when Abbiegail was brutally raped and murdered by her neighbor, Andreas Erazo, in Keansburg, New Jersey.
At the time, Erazo, then 20, lived upstairs from the victim and her family in the Hancock Arms apartment complex.
However, a recent appeal by Erazo raised eyebrows as he argued for a reduced prison term, suggesting that he faced “denigrating” remarks from the victim’s family during his trial.
Erazo, 24, contended that his life sentence was excessive and constituted cruel and unusual punishment, given the harsh language used against him by Abbiegail’s family, particularly her mother, Carol Bennett.
These statements, which labeled him as a “wicked, cold-hearted pedophile and murderer” and an “evil monster,” were central to Erazo’s appeal.
Carol Bennett’s response to this appeal was nothing short of incredulous.
“I find it hilarious,” she stated amid a short laughter.
This laughter represented a moment of triumph for a mother who had endured the unimaginable.
In her eyes, Erazo’s argument was nothing but a desperate plea for clemency in the face of the heinous crime he had committed.
A panel of appellate judges, while not finding amusement in the situation, firmly rejected Erazo’s plea in a unanimous ruling.
Their decision upheld the life sentence imposed on Erazo in May 2019 by Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman for the rape and murder of Abbiegail.
The ruling also quashed Erazo’s argument for a reduced term based on his age when the crimes were committed, noting that he had become an adult by that time.
