Dear your Honor, We are the parents and sisters of Isabella Hellman, whose husband, Lewis Bennett, is to be sentenced by Your Honor on January 10, 2019, ‘As we sat in court on November 5", and listened to the recitation of facts about how Isabella dled, we were struck by how bizarre this process of letting the government offer a plea bargain really is. Afterall, Isabella is our daughter, our sister and we have and will continue to suffer her loss for the rest of our lives. Additionally, her young daughter, Emelia, who was ripped from our lives so quickly after Isabella's disappearance, will have to grow up without her mother and will, ultimately, learn that this hole in her life was caused by her father. That Lewis Bennett is being allowed to plead to involuntary manslaughter is outrageous to us. After all, he did nothing to look for Isabella and actually took affirmative action to sink his own boat. His only apparent efforts were to save himself and the stolen coins that he had in his Possession. The photos of the ship showed that it was not damaged and sinking but actually Intentionally scuttled. While our lawyer has explained to us that these facts are circumstantial and may not result in a conviction to murder, we strongly believe that a plea to involuntary manslaughter is not only insufficient but actually less consistent with the facts than an acquittal oF a murder conviction would be. In essence, this plea is a compromise and while we can understand the prosecutor's desire to move on from what is a difficult case, we are not so willing to move on. ‘There are things we want you to know. In the over 18 months since Emelia was taken from us, we have not seen her. That is not from lack of trying. We have tried, but Lewis Bennett's family lives in the United Kingdom and he has not instructed his family to allow us to visit her. We have had very limited Facetime access to her, less than even one handful of times and before ‘she was taken from us, she was the light of our lives. The reason we raise this issue is to demonstrate to you that Lewis Bennett is not a repentant man. Someone who negligently or carelessly caused the death of another person would be expected to take whatever actions he could to mitigate the impact his actions had on the family. He has not done this. Sparingly, Lewis Bennett has granted us minimal access to Emelia and only electronically. We do not know where she lives. We do not have the ability to speak with her regularly. We are victims twice over, all at the hands of Lewis Bennett. Based upon his admitted actions at the time of Isabella's death and his behavior after being incarcerated, we do not think an involuntary manslaughter plea is appropriate. The agreed sentence of seven to eight years is inappropriate as well. Candidly, we would rather see this case go to trial, even if the result is a not guilty verdict, rather than have to live with this result, ‘Your Honor, we are heartbroken. We know Isabella is gone and see little hope of getting Emelia back anytime soon. Someday, she will learn the truth and may come back to us, but that may take more than a decade. By then, her father will have made her into another vietim, having taken not only her mother's life but also taken from her the opportunity to know and share the lives of her mother’s family. Who knows where we will be in fifteen years? Will hergrandparents even still be alive? How much will Emeila lose? She too, is a victim here and her rights have been ignored without even a say. We do not want you to sentence Lewis Bennett as agreed to. We want a plea and a sentence that is consistent with what he has done, what he has taken, and what all of the rest of us have lost. Without that, will always feel that justice and the rights of the victims in this case, Emelia included, have been pushed aside. Respectfully, Adriana Difeo