Family members wept openly in court as a man was sentenced for the 2003 murder of a popular Denny's Restaurant waitress.
Mark Jeffrey Brown, 58, was sentenced to 25-years to life for first-degree murder in the strangulation death of his ex-girlfriend Faye Antoinette Williams. Her decomposed body was found in an Otay Lakes river bed months after she was killed.
Brown remained defiant, proclaiming his innocence prior to the sentencing. Williams' family, however, said they were satisfied justice had been served.
LaWonda Peoples told the court about the last time she heard her sister's voice. It was a recorded phone message.
"Had I known it would have been her last call, I wouldn't have erased it," she said. "She delayed her dreams of becoming a poet to help others, and death was her reward."
"Please don't ever let him walk the streets again," said a weeping Evelyn Bias, another sister of Williams.
"May God have mercy on his soul," said brother John Williams.
Brown showed no visible reaction as family members spoke in court. But just prior to his sentencing he told the judge he did not kill Williams.
"I love Faye more than anything. I never laid a hand on her," he said.
But judge David M. Gill cited what he called a "disturbing pattern of violence and dominance" and sentenced Brown to 25-years to life in prison. He rejected defense attorney's arguments that the crime did not meet the criteria of first-degree murder.
