MIAMI (WSVN) - A man convicted of attempting to kill his roommate has been sentenced to life in prison.
A judge at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami sentenced Byron Mitchell to life in prison, Monday.
The defense asked the judge for leniency during court and claimed Mitchell was remorseful. On the day of the attack, Mitchell called 911 for help, defense attorneys said.
“The court finds that the only just sentence as to count one is life in prison,” the judge said. “The savagery and brutality that I had not seen in my 33 years in the criminal justice system, where someone actually survived.”
In 2016, Danielle Jones, the victim, and Mitchell met on Craigslist and had roomed for about a month together. Mitchell beat, choked and stabbed Jones on Feb. 14. Her face was mutilated with a knife, and she was left in a coma for nearly three weeks.
“I feel like my life has been destroyed,” she said in court. “I don’t feel as pretty anymore, and I gave up my dreams that I’ve had since I was a little girl are gone now.”
Mitchell spoke to the court and directly addressed Jones, who walked out while he was speaking, before his sentence was handed down.
“But I’m not interested in being a criminal or something like that,” he said. “It was an unfortunate situation. Do not allow yourself to be held back because of a single situation. You should not let negative thoughts put you in negative situations. I don’t like her being like that. It’s awful. It’s like a misunderstanding is the best way to put it, well, and I got scared or whatever, and I asked for medical attention.”
“There’s no excuse,” Jones said. “It wasn’t worth listening to, so I just walked out of the room.”
The attorneys also had an expert claim that Mitchell suffered from mental illness during the attack. Despite the claims, the judge handed down the maximum sentence.
“He is remorseful for what happened,” Khurrum Wahid, Mitchell’s attorney, said. “However, it came out that is, I think, a clear part of what he said.”
Mitchell was also sentenced to 15 years for false imprisonment charges he was convicted of in June.
“I didn’t expect it to turn out the way it did,” Jones said after the decision. “I’m really happy it did, and I’m just grateful. It’s rare that justice is served, and I feel like it actually was this time, so I’m happy.”
Mitchell has the option of appealing the sentence, but it remains unclear if he will do so.
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