Edna Weaver, whose daugh­ter was mur­dered in New Jersey, expressed relief that the defen­dant was spared the death penal­ty. She said that she did not want William Severs Jr. exe­cut­ed for killing Tina Lambriola in 2002 because she want­ed to spare his moth­er the pain of los­ing a child. ​“I’m so thank­ful it came out the way it did.… I would­n’t want anoth­er moth­er to feel like I do — it’s a feel­ing I could nev­er put into words.… At least his moth­er will be able to write to him, she will be able to send things to him,” Weaver stat­ed.

Labriola’s daugh­ter, Christina Woody, echoed her grand­moth­er’s sen­ti­ments, adding, ​“I feel like a bur­den just went away. It’s just so much bet­ter.” Labriola’s broth­er, Bob Weaver, did not attend the tri­al, but does plan to speak out in favor of impos­ing a sen­tence of life in pri­sion with­out parole dur­ing Severs’ October 21 sen­tenc­ing hear­ing. ​“A weight has been lift­ed off our shoul­ders.… (The sen­tenc­ing hear­ing will be) the last time I ever see him and that’s a great thing,” he said. (The Bridgeton Daily Journal, September 3, 2005). See Victims.

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