Brian and Cindy Sanderholm Thursday morning breathed easier for the first time since the murder of their daughter, Jodi, in January 2007 and said "it doesn’t matter" to them if Justin Thurber is sentenced to death for committing the crime.
"It’s up to the jury, it’s not up to us," Brian Sanderholm said following the announcement of the guilty verdict. "We’re just glad to know that what happened to Jodi is not going to happen to anyone else."
Jurors deliberated about 45 minutes this morning before notifying Judge Jim Pringle they had reached a verdict. The same jury will return at 9 a.m. Monday to begin hearing arguments for and against the death penalty for Thurber.
The capital murder and kidnapping convictions mean Thurber will either be sentenced to death or given life in prison. Either way, the Sanderholms said, he’ll be spending the rest of his life in a cell.
"We got justice," Cindy Sanderholm said. "We’re happy, we got what we wanted."
Scores of news reporters rushed to the Sanderholms as they left the Cowley County Courthouse in Winfield. Both Sanderholms ? and the couple’s other daughter Jennifer ? smiled as they emerged.
Moments earlier, they and the victim’s extended family and friends offered cheers and applause for Assistant Kansas Attorney General Vic Braden and Cowley County Attorney Christopher Smith. The two men presented the state’s evidence over seven days and were key architects of the case.
Despite the relief a verdict brought, though, both family and members of the prosecution turned solemn when remembering that Thurber’s guilt can’t reverse all that had occurred on Jan. 5, 2007.
"We’re pleased with the verdict," Braden said. "But you can never bring back that child. We don’t get Jodi back."
Braden and Cowley County Attorney Christopher Smith offered thanks to the many investigators that contributed to the prosecution’s case, especially members of the Arkansas City Police Department.
Ark City Police Chief Sean Wallace said Jodi Sanderholm’s death had put the focus on the need for tougher stalking laws. Wallace’s department has already utilized the recently-passed Jodi’s Law to make arrests in other cases.
BACK TO NORMAL?
At one point Jennifer Sanderholm seemed unsure exactly what to do now that a major peak in the courtroom drama had come and gone, and the throng of reporters had dissipated.
"You going back to work," Cindy Sanderholm asked her daughter.
Jennifer chuckled awkwardly before replaying "yeah, I guess so."
Still, family members said, life will never totally go back to how it was before Jodi’s murder.
"It never ends, we still struggle with it," Brian Sanderholm said. "But now we know what happened. Now we can say we know who did it."
