BANGOR, Maine — Nichole Cable’s mother is still waiting for her daughter’s killer “to man up” and admit that he strangled the 15-year-old girl two years ago.
“I need him to tell me and own up to what he did,” Kristine Wiley said on Friday outside the Penobscot Judicial Center after Kyle Dube was sentenced to 60 years in prison for murder and kidnapping. “I need to know what her last words were.
“Was she screaming for me? Was she screaming for her dad? I need to know what happened,” Wiley said as her voice cracked with emotion. “I’m her mother. I deserve to know what happened to her.”
Dube, 22, did not address the judge before learning his sentence. There was no explanation, no apology to his victim’s family. He never took the stand in his own defense at his trial earlier this year.
A jury of seven men and five women took just 45 minutes on March 6 after a weeklong trial to find him guilty of murder and kidnapping in Cable’s death on May 12, 2013.
Superior Court Justice Ann Murray imposed a sentence of 60 years on the murder charge and a concurrent sentence of 30 years on the kidnapping charge.
In court, Wiley tearfully urged the judge to show Dube “no mercy” in imposing a sentence. She asked that her daughter’s killer spend the rest of his life in prison so that he “can’t do this to another mother or daughter.”
Other family members also gave emotional testimony about the effect the murder has had on their lives. Several asked that Dube spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Dube’s parents, Tammy and Greg Dube of Orono, spoke of their son’s devotion to his daughter, now 5, and his willingness to help others.
“It is a tragic thing that’s happened, and we ask that you take into consideration his age,” Tammy Dube told the judge.
Several of Kyle Dube’s friends described him as the kind of person “who would give you the shirt off his back.”
No one who spoke on Dube’s behalf suggested a specific sentence.
For the first time since his arrest nearly two year ago, Dube publicly wept as his friends and family talked about him in court.
In sentencing Dube, Murray said that Maine case law would not allow her to send him to prison for life or impose consecutive sentences.
“This was an unprovoked, senseless killing,” Murray said in sentencing Dube.
In addition to prison time, Murray ordered Dube to pay about $12,000 in restitution toward Cable’s funeral expenses.
Jurors found that Dube lured the girl from her mother’s home in Glenburn by creating a fake Facebook page and strangled her in an abduction gone wrong.
Dube faced between 25 years and life in prison on the murder charge. He faced up to 30 years in prison on the kidnapping charge.
Assistant Attorneys General Leane Zainea and Donald Macomber recommended Dube be sentenced to 60 years on the murder charge and an additional 30 years on the kidnapping conviction. The prosecutors also asked Dube be ordered to pay restitution for Cable’s funeral expenses.
The defense team of Stephen Smith of Augusta and Wendy Hatch of Bangor urged Murray to send Dube to prison for 45 years for the murder and a concurrent 20 years for the kidnapping.
Dube turned down a plea offer shortly before going to trial, according to a previously published report. Details of the offer have not been made public but it most likely was close to the 45 years recommended by the defense team.
He has been held without bail since his arrest on May 21, 2013. That time will count toward his sentence.
Smith on Friday filed an appeal of Dube’s conviction and sentence.
Wiley said outside the courthouse that despite not getting the admission from Dube she seeks, she is satisfied with the 60-year sentence.
“He’ll be very old before he could ever get out,” she said. “It’s a prison life, so there are no guarantees that he would even live that long.”
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