Kayla Giles sentenced to life plus 30 years for slaying of Thomas Coutee Jr.

Cathy Pearson had just begun her victim impact statement about her murdered son, Thomas Coutee Jr., when the attorney for the woman who shot him interrupted her.

Jane Hogan, who signed on as Kayla Giles' attorney about a month ago, asked 9th Judicial District Court Judge Greg Beard to put conditions on what Pearson and others could say.

"No," said Beard while casting a stern look at her.

Hogan pressed on, though, and then Coutee's father, Thomas Coutee Sr., spoke. "She's a murderer."

Beard admonished those in the courtroom to refrain from outbursts. He allowed Pearson to continue her statement.

After the statements, Giles was sentenced to life in prison without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence on her second-degree murder conviction and 30 years on her obstruction of justice conviction.

The sentences are to be served consecutively.

A Rapides Parish jury found Giles guilty on Jan. 29, her 35th birthday. This was the second sentencing date set for her because she hired Hogan as her new attorney, severing ties to the team of George Higgins III and Rocky Willson who represented her during the trial.

The gallery in Beard's courtroom was filled with people wearing purple, the color Coutee's family has worn in his memory since he was killed during a custody exchange with Giles in the Coliseum Boulevard Walmart parking lot in Alexandria.

Pearson and Coutee's sister, Megan Wiggins, both gave statements from the witness stand. Coutee's father, Thomas Coutee, wrote a letter that Louisiana Assistant Attorney General Joseph LeBeau read.

Pearson recounted her son's birth, the time and how much he weighed. She called him "the sweetest baby boy" who grew into a man loved by everyone who met him.

She cried as she talked about her granddaughter, Coutee's only child, who she said will grow up without him.

"Tesla will never know her daddy, the love he had for her," she said.

But she will know that she got her last kiss and hug from him on her birthday, the day he was killed. Coutee had been picking up his daughter and Giles' two daughters so that they all could go to Chuck E. Cheese for her party.

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She told Giles she not only took her son's life that day, but her own. She says that, every night as she tries to sleep, she sees her son suffering on the hot concrete parking lot, struggling to breathe.

"I will never have closure because I never got to say goodbye," Pearson said, saying she couldn't do that through a casket.

"Believe me, I tried."

She said she doesn't know what goes through a murderer's mind, but it must be pure evil.

"She is Satan himself in a female body," she said, which drew a quiet objection from Hogan.

"I will never get to hug or kiss my baby when he walks through the door," she cried. "It's horrible what she did."

Pearson told Beard her son didn't deserve to die at Giles' hands and asked him to please never let her hurt anyone again.

Day 1 trial: State says Kayla Giles is 'cold, calculating,' but defense says she was protecting herself

Day 2 trial: Kayla Giles' defense requests, fails to get mistrial after gun purchase evidence

Day 3 trial: Jurors in Kayla Giles' 2nd-degree murder trial view heated interview with detective

Day 4 trial: Forensic pathologist testifies Thomas Coutee Jr. died from single gunshot wound

As she walked from the stand, Hogan again asked Beard to set conditions on the victim impact statements. Beard ignored it and called for the next person, Wiggins.

She said a piece of her was lost forever when her brother was killed. She told Giles that she knew she hated her, and asked why she didn't kill her instead of her brother. She spoke of the love she shared with her brother.

"He loved you too, Kayla," said Wiggins. "Why'd you have to shoot him?"

She said her family hasn't been the same since losing Coutee, but said it was amazing to see all the people her brother touched come support them at his funeral. She told Giles that she hadn't won anything and that she wants to hate her.

But she said she knew she couldn't hold onto the hate, so she forgives her.

LeBeau then read the letter from Coutee's father, which recalled waiting at Chuck E. Cheese for his only child to arrive and then getting the call from Pearson about the shooting.

"That is the moment that my life changed forever," read the letter.

He stated that he's had so much sadness, grief and anger since his son's death. And he wondered about things after seeing his son's body in the parking lot.

"Did he suffer? Did he know he was going to die?"

He said his son also was his friend, and they had started their own ATV racing team because of their shared love of the sport. Coutee Sr. wrote that his son hoped to turn his daughter into a tomboy and get her into racing.

His son's most important accomplishment was becoming a father, he wrote, including part of a Facebook post from his son in which he spoke about his love for his daughter.

Today and for the rest of my life, I'll be mourning my son," read the letter.

He told Giles that she always would be known as a murderer and that she doesn't deserve the privilege of ever being free again. He asked Beard to give Giles the maximum sentence.

When Giles was asked if she had anything to say, Hogan said she advised her client not to speak.

Before sentencing, Beard made some comments. He told Giles that he observed her during the trial, how she hardly looked up and spent time writing.

She showed no emotion, even when her longtime friend and her sister testified, "even when your own flesh and blood, your daughter, testified," he said.

It seems that would have elicited some emotion from her, he said.

"However, this court observed none."

Before the sentencing, Beard denied two motions filed by Hogan.

One was for a post-verdict acquittal, in which she sought a sentencing for manslaughter or negligent homicide in lieu of an acquittal. The other motion sought a new trial.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: 'She's a murderer': Kayla Giles gets life plus 30 years in Thomas Coutee Jr. slaying