Wetterlings, Jared Schierel react to Heinrich sentencing

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - The Wetterling family attorney Doug Kelley described the sentencing of Danny Heinrich as an “extremely powerful day,” in court Monday.

“Today is almost like starting all over again for the family,” Kelley said.

The Wetterlings asked for some privacy after confronting their son and brother’s killer, pouring out their hearts in several emotional victim impact statements that had some observers in tears.

“They would just like some time to heal, and as Patty said, they are going to have the most joyous Thanksgiving they’ve had in a long time,” Kelley said.

Jacob Wetterling’s cousin Lisa Overturf said she had nightmares about being in the same courtroom as Heinrich.

“I hope that he is behind bars for the rest of his life,” she said. “He has no remorse and no sympathy for what he did. That’s why he had no words to describe this.”

Meanwhile, Heinrich’s victim Jared Scheierl decided not to even listen to his attacker.

Scheierl walked out of the courtroom explaining that Heinrich’s words from a violent sexual assault nearly 30 years ago had haunted him for far too long.

“It’s a traumatic event that defines your life in lots of ways,” Scheierl said. “And we can all learn from the lessons we heard today from the Wetterling family.”