A killer listened to heart wrenching words, as he was sentenced Friday, from a family who lost a father, husband, brother and son.
Andrew Griffith, 30, was sentenced to 42 years to life in prison for killing David Busby II, 32, who confronted him for shoplifting in July 2007 in Ramona. The sentence includes his attack on a man with a samurai sword a month earlier.
“There's no description sufficient for the pain that's been inflicted on my family and me,” Geraldine Busby said.
As the victim’s mother wept those agonizing words to her son's killer, Griffith stared straight ahead.
“Personally I've never experienced heartache this horrible, the agony never ends,” she said. “Every day I awaken with the knowledge that I'm still here and my son is still gone. I've asked God at every turn for he knows my kids are my purpose in life.”
Busby was shot and killed as he tried to stop Griffith from leaving a K-mart store in Ramona with $86 worth of stolen goods.
“July 21st, 2007, should have been a day of celebration for my parents, it being the day of their anniversary. Instead you and your thoughtless act of cowardice turned their anniversary into a day of sorrow and pain,” the victim’s sister Dava Butler said.
Griffith pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and assault in March. He also pleaded guilty to battery for attacking a man with a sword in June 2007. Steven Lowe testified that Griffith jumped out of the bushes in Ramona and slashed his upper left arm when he tried to flee.
Busby was a navy sailor who had survived a tour in Iraq. He was a hero to his family and a father to his then 15-month-old son.
“You took the father of my child, the man that I loved, my sense of security. You took a son, a brother, a friend,” the victim’s widow Lauren Busby said in court.
Griffith made a statement through his lawyer, who said Griffith knows there are no words or acts to take away the family's grief.
“He knows what he did was wrong, and he lives with that everyday,” Knut Johnson said.
But the family, who gathered outside court with Busby's now three-year-old son, said they too live with it everyday and every night.
“Every night before bedtime we go outside and blow kisses in the sky. He thinks he's in a spaceship, so I let him believe that for now,” the victim's widow said as she wiped a tear from her eye.
