IMPACT STATEMENT
JOSEPH GINGERELLA 

This has been the hardest thing for me to start writing. No words can express
the grief our family has endured. The horrible pain of not just the death of the
most important person in my life but in the manner he was taken from me
and my family. Our world came crashing down in the early morning hours of
December 11, 2016. I will never be the same. I hear my cousin?s voice through
the phone panicked and yelling Joey has been shot. Completely confused and
in disbelief we rushed to the hospital to be told our only son is gone. I will
never celebrate any more birthdays, holidays or see him get married and have
children. Joey will never meet his nephew. But his nephew will know what a
brave young man his uncle was and that he died a hero. Joey Was only 24
years old. But in his 24 years of life, he taught me so much. You need to
know that my son was very happy at the time of his death. Joey had worked
very hard to put his life back on track and was contributing to the community
by spreading awareness to Opioid addiction and coaching youth baseball. He
not only taught the fundamentals of the sport but he spoke to the players
about respect for each other and the importance of choices that we make
every day. Joey was the most kindhearted young man that I knew. Whether it
was opening the door for someone or just giving a smile, saying hello to
everyone and sharing his story to help others.

Despite what was presented by defense my son loved everyone and had many
friends of different cultures. His best of friends were of color. He managed to
make it in most of his friend?s family photos for holidays while being the only
white person in the photo. I was extremely disappointed that the defense
chose to use the race card. It saddens me that our country still struggles with
racism, but unfortunately you got it wrong in this case. Joey simply was asked
to check on a girl that the bar feared was in danger and he responded. He
responded because he was a good person and didn?t want to see someone hurt.
He did not go out there and see she was black and turn away. Joey saw people
and he saw their heart. With a world so full of hate, the world just lost one of
the good ones who just loved and respected others. The words spoken by the
defense were no more than a lie. Those were Dante?s words and I do not ?nd
Dante?s words to be credible. Nobody else, including Joey?s friends believe for
one minute that Joey would say such hateful words. You may say this is hear
say, and believe me we would be here for days if I had his friends stand here
and tell you how they feel, but I believe I am more credible then the person
that killed my son that sits before me. There is no doubt in my mind after
sitting day after day listening to testimony, that I ?nd Dante guilty of Murder
in the 1St degree.

Since Joeys death his sister has had uncontrolled epilepsy from stress, his
biological father is not at peace and full of anger, Joeys stepfather is
completely devastated and all of his friends are having a hard time moving
forward. Joey was loved by so many which means so many lives have been
tragically affected by his violent death. Peace is hard to ?nd when someone is
taken in such a violent way. As his mother, I can only tell you that my life will
never be the same. I have not managed to go a day without crying, I can?t shut
off my mind thinking about his the last moments of life. As his mom I should
have been there to hold his hand and kiss him goodbye. This haunts me that
he died right around the corner from our home. Regardless I am so very
proud of Joey. I try to ?nd peace in that but it is so hard due to the fact that
remorse has never been shown by either party, Dante, Latoya or the family
other than Dante?s Mother. I plead to the court today to give Dante Hughes
the maximum sentence for the crimes he has committed. Dante broke the law
before he ever showed up to the place where he killed Joey that evening. As a
felon he should have never had a gun! He should never had a gun in a bar
while drinking! He should have never engaged in domestic assault. All the
while my son was out for the night having a good time reconnecting with old
friends, unarmed, happy and little did he know that evil was lurking around
the corner and his life would be over in minutes. The streets are safer now
that Dante is incarcerated. While Dante re?ects in prison about the crimes he
committed and the negative impact he has had on so many lives, I hope you
can find remorse in your heart and that you can take emotional responsibility
for your actions. But I beg the court to hold him accountable to the highest
extent of the law.

Tammy de la Cruz (Mother of a forever 24 year old hero Joseph Gingerella