FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Years after a family tragedy, a convicted killer learned his fate after he took the lives of his pregnant wife and father-in-law.
Cassandritz Blanc was given three life sentences, Wednesday afternoon.
In court, Blanc apologized to the victims’ family..
“I will sincerely like to apologize to the victims and the victim’s family,” he said.
Blanc was accused of killing his wife Martine Bernard, who was six months pregnant, his unborn son, who was supposed to be named after him, and his father-in-law, 68-year-old Roosevelt Bernard.
The incident took place on June 4, 2018, when, police said, Blanc shot and killed his wife after, he said, she disrespected him. Blanc then kept her body in the apartment the two shared for about a week.
He then attempted to dismember her body, but when that became difficult, Blanc disposed her body in a nearby dumpster.
Days later, Blanc killed Roosevelt by shooting him in the back of the neck. He then attempted to burn his body in an alley near Roosevelt’s home in Hollywood.
Blanc told police that he couldn’t face his father-in-law.
“No matter what I feel now, it doesn’t change the hurt and the pain that we’ve gone through,” said Roosevelt Bernard Jr. “So that apology, as sincere as it was on his part, it doesn’t hold for our family.”
Blanc pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge John Murphy told the family there were no words of comfort.
“With his guilty plea and the sentence that he received, he will never get out of prison,” said defense attorney Mark Eiglarsh.
“I would say I feel more relieved that the situation is over. We opened our family to him, we loved him, he had a place to stay, and for him to do whatever he did, there’s no way to excuse that,” Bernard Jr. said. “The way everything played out and how justice was served, our family can finally have a sense of peace in knowing that he won’t be able to do what he did again to anyone else.”
If Blanc didn’t plea guilty, his case would have gone to trial.
According to police, they had a slam dunk case, because they were doing surveillance on Blanc and saw him putting the body of his wife inside the dumpster.
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