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Last updated on Friday, December 2, 2016
(BLOOMINGTON) - 24-year-old Taylor Kirby sat next to her attorney, sobbing while Justin Kirby’s biological father David Bruner berated her over shooting her husband four times during a heated argument last year as their son and daughter, who were 3 and 4 years old, played on the carport at his Bloomington home.
"His life ended at the front door as he tried to get away from you. And you kept shooting," he added.
Kirby was sentenced Thursday to a 22-year prison term -- 17 years for voluntary manslaughter and five years for using a firearm to commit the crime. She admitted shooting her 26-year-old, legally blind husband Justin Kirby during an argument September 26, 2015, at the house where he lived with their children on San Juan Drive.
Taylor Kirby had been evicted from her apartment and was at her estranged husband's home visiting their kids when the shooting happened.
When first arrested, Kirby had been facing a murder charge, but the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office amended the charge. Deputy Prosecutor Bob Miller said there was no evidence of premeditation and that the killing was carried out in the sudden heat of anger, which makes it voluntary manslaughter, not murder, under the law.
Kirby accepted a plea agreement, but the family was not happy with the prosecution offering her one and made sure Judge Marc Kellams knew it.
"What a small sentence you have, compared to the lifetime sentence you gave your children," Justin's adopted mother, Sandy Kirby, shouted at Taylor.
Several others shared Sandy Kirby's feelings and let the judge know.
Only one person spoke in court on Taylor Kirby's behalf and that was her adopted mother Tracy Fields. Saying her daughter had lived in a foster home of two years before she was adopted at the age of 7. Fields told the court that Taylor had been taken by her parents because she had been emotional, physical and sexual abuse.
Fields told the court that the couple's relationship was "Toxic from the get-go."
The two had moved in together three weeks after Taylor had graduated from Bloomington High School South. They had know each other just two days. Then came two babies in two years.
Taylor Kirby did address the judge before her sentence saying she was sorry.
"I am sorry our two beautiful children experienced the loss of their father," she told Judge Kellams. "I can only say how sorry I am. I've asked God for forgiveness I don't feel worthy of asking from others."
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