NORWICH – George Ford Jr. was given the maximum sentence in Chenango County Court Thursday and will spend the next 25 years to life in state prison for the murder of 12-year-old Shyanne Somers of Otselic.
“I have no doubt that you killed Shyanne Somers. What I don’t know is why,” said presiding Broome County Court Judge Joseph F. Cawley.
“What’s particularly troubling to me is the fear and terror that that younger girl went through in the last moments of her life. I hope that that fear and terror is the last thing you think about every night and the first thing you think about every morning,” said the judge.
Shyanne’s father, James Somers, spoke on his daughter’s behalf while her mother, Kathy, and other family members looked on in the courtroom.
“There is nothing that can be done to replace what we’ve lost,” James Somers said.
“He made a choice and that choice ended my daughter’s life and now you need to make the choice of what will be done with his,” said Somers, speaking to Cawley before sentencing.
Ford’s attorney Randel Scharf objected to 19 different items included in his client’s pre-sentencing report, the document that will follow him through the prison system and determine his parole eligibility in 25 years. He also reiterated the defense’s position that the GPS evidence against Ford was circumstantial.
Police uncovered a GPS tracking system in Ford’s truck, which his wife, Cindy, admitted she had placed there without his knowledge because she believed him to be having an affair. Investigators said the tracking device recorded the time, speed and location of the vehicle at the time of Somers’ death.
District Attorney Joseph A. McBride said “The GPS found justice” and “told the truth” of the case.
McBride said 44-year-old Ford picked up the girl at around 11:30 p.m. July 7, 2007, to babysit for him so he could return to a party, but his wife returned home instead. Ford then brought Somers to an abandoned property on Will Warner Road, where police found evidence of cocaine use. The GPS then shows the truck traveling down the seasonal road to the location of the murder. Prosecutors believe Ford deliberately ran over Somers with his pick-up truck to silence her over what may have happened at the residence.
McBride said the GPS tracker in Ford’s truck offered evidence in contradiction to Ford’s statements given police, proving he murdered the young girl.
Another factor McBride pointed out was that Ford did not arrive at the hospital with the girl until several hours after the incident.
