'His fate should be nothing but death': Parents of murdered 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale break down as they condemn 17-year sentence handed to teenage killer



Justin Robinson sentenced to 17 years in prison for Autumn Pasquale's death



Robinson will be eligible for parole in 14½ years



Justin and his brother Donte attacked her for her BMX parts last year



The mother of a 12-year-old girl killed by a teenage boy told a judge today: 'I am living every parents' worst nightmare'.

Jennifer Cornwall, condemned the 17-year sentence handed down to the boy who ended her daughter, Autumn's, life, as 'a gift he did not deserve' and said: 'I hope the defendant is haunted by her memory for the rest of his life'.

Justin Robinson, 16, had pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter last month, and admitted strangling the Clayton Middle School student to death in October last year.



Off to jail: Justin Robinson, who pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the death of Autumn Pasquale, leaves the courtroom after being sentenced to 17 years in prison

Autumn Pasquale was brutally murdered in October in her hometown of Clayton, New Jersey,



Clues: Justin Robinson 'liked' the Facebook page set up to find Autumn despite knowing she was already dead

He apologized to the family and said, 'This was not supposed to happen,' as he called the killing a 'mistake.'

The New Jersey teenager had lured Autumn to his home with an offer to trade bicycle parts.



Prosecutors faced difficulties during the trial including a lack of physical evidence to determine whether he or his brother Dante Robinson, then 17, killed Autumn and they struggled for provide a motive for the killing..

The teenager will now spend the next half of his life in prison for the crime, however he will be eligible for parole after 14½ years.

'I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen,' he told Judge Walter Marshall. 'This was all a big mistake.'

Relatives of the girl did not see it that way, and some wanted the judge to issue a tougher sentence than the one agreed to in a plea agreement.



More than 8,500 people signed an online petition at change.org demanding a stiffer term, but Superior Court Judge Walter Marshall Jr. in Gloucester County accepted a plea deal agreement and the sentence of 17 years.

During Thursday's sentencing, family and friends of Autumn — many who were hoping for a harsher sentence — packed one side of the courtroom.



Autumn's parents spoke of their pain since losing their daughter.

Addressing the court, Autumn Pasquale's father Anthony said that Robinson's sentence was not nearly long enough and called him a 'murderer who does not deserve to live.

'I believe the defendant deserves more than 17 years,' said Mr Pasquale, who as a mail carrier had delivered letters to Robinson's family in Clayton, where the families of the victim and her killer had deep roots. 'I believe his fate should be nothing but death.'



When he pleaded guilty, Justin Robinson said he acted alone. During a sentencing proceeding, neither he, his lawyers, nor prosecutors shed light on a motive for the killing, or even what happened beyond what was already known: Pasquale went to his house several blocks from hers after receiving a Facebook offer to trade bike parts on Oct. 20. When she didn't return home that night, her family, then the entire community, set off in a frantic search. Two days later, her body was found in a recycling bin behind the home next to Robinson's.



A break in the case for investigators came when the boy's mother, Anita Saunders, called police after seeing something troubling in a Facebook post from one of her sons.



Speaking briefly during the sentencing, Saunders told the judge that media accounts of what happened were incorrect. 'Nobody knows exactly what happened the day of the accident,' she said.



Emotional: Jennifer Cornwell, mother of slain child Autumn Pasquale, leaves the courtroom table after making a statement about her daughter during the sentencing of Justin Robinson Robinson's lawyer, Jean Faulkner, told the judge that the boy had post-traumatic stress disorder from being physically abused as a young boy and seeing his father strangle his mother more than once. 'This is a learned behavior,' Faulkner said.

Pasquale's family told the judge about Autumn, whom they described as a loving tomboy who wore mismatched socks and loved to ride her BMX bike.

They talked about how her disappearance and death touched the town, located 25 miles southeast of Philadelphia. Her old soccer team, once known as the Clayton Comets, is now Autumn's Angels; her jersey number, 14, has been retired from the Clayton Middle School sports teams; a bike path and a park are now named for her.

And they told the judge how members of the family, including her siblings and young cousins, are in therapy and dealing with nightmares about her death. 'When I see the blue recycling bins out, I cry to think Autumn's innocent life was so easily discarded like a piece of trash,' said the girl's maternal grandmother, Mary Pasquale, who had taught Justin Robinson in school. A slide show of pictures of Autumn were projected onto a screen in the courtroom. About a dozen family members recalled her as happy, lively young girl who made others laugh.



Upset: Anthony Pasquale, father of slain child Autumn Pasquale spoke in court saying her killer Justin Robinson did not deserve to live Autumn Pasquale's body was found in a recycling bin on an abandoned property next door to Justin's brother's Donte's home. She was found just days after she went missing in October and the brothers were arrested within hours of her body being located. Police believe the teens lured 12-year-old 'tomboy' Autumn to their home under the pretense of trading bike parts and killed her. Autumn was promised parts for her bike by the two, authorities said, but the teenagers were really plotting to steal parts from her model. The house was a place where teens frequently hung out and had parties, some neighbors said, and one of the brothers often bought and sold BMX bicycle parts, the teenagers said. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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An autopsy concluded Autumn had died from 'blunt force trauma, consistent with strangulation'. She was also beaten. There was no evidence of sexual assault. The boys themselves were in plain sight at points in the intense search for Autumn. Several people in town said they saw them both at the vigil held on Monday night in hopes that she would be found while allegedly knowing exactly where she was.

Guilty: Justin (pictured left) will now spend the next half of his life behind bars. He plead guilty in August to choking Autumn last year. His brother Donte Robinson (pictured right) has also been charged with the murder



Innocent: Autumn went round to the brothers house to trade BMX bike parts. Instead, they killed her



Autumn's disappearance in October brought together the southern New Jersey town where she lived and - briefly - reunited her parents who had been separated since 2002.

Though the parents legally had joint custody, Autumn and her siblings spent most of their time living with their father.



While Donte’s charges are still pending in juvenile court, Justin Robinson admitted last month to being the sole person responsible for luring Autumn to his house and strangling her to death.

Judge Walter Marshall recommended Robinson start his sentence in a youth corrections facility with the state.



Marshall also described the crime as a 'particularly cruel manner of death' which was something he weighed heavily in his decision.

Devastated: Autumn's mother and father, Anthony Pasquale and Jennifer Cornwell, said their daughter was treated 'like a piece of trash'

Life cut short: Authorities found some of Autumn¿s belongings in the teens' house including the white BMX bike she was last seen riding when she left her West High Street home in the New Jersey town

Death wish: Autumn Pasquale's mother Jennifer Cornwell and father Anthony Pasquale say they wish her murderers could be given the death penalty



The Robinson boys' mother also spoke briefly during the hearing. 'Nobody knows what happened the day of the accident,' she said, as the audience booed audibly. 'The accident has been mischaracterized.'

She added that she knows her son is 'filled with remorse.' Outside the courthouse, a crowd of protesters gathered as they waited for word on the judge's decision.

Prosecutors agreed to allow Robinson to plea to aggravated manslaughter rather than murder because of challenges with the case. Because of his age and a developmental disability, it was not a sure thing that he would be moved to adult court. If he had been convicted of murder in juvenile court, he could have had a chance of parole in less than seven years. Justin's brother Donte will be tried in a juvenile court later this year. Grim discovery: Gloucester County prosecutors found the body of Autumn Pasquale in a bin just blocks from her house