Opinion ID: 2588509
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Impact on Survivors

Text: Jacqulin Le Gree was Daniel McDermott's older daughter. He always was kind and loving, and went out of his way to help strangers. He was never violent or angry. Le Gree would have been able to handle her father's death better if it had occurred through natural causes or an accident, rather than defendant's purposeful act. Le Gree feels the loss most painfully when her children tell her they do not remember their grandfather. Ingrid Page was Daniel McDermott's younger daughter. She last saw her father as she was preparing to go to Germany as part of her military service. She could not understand why anyone would want to kill her father, who had never done anything to anybody. Initially, the hardest aspect of her father's death was its unnatural cause. Now the hardest part was that her father never had the chance to meet her husband or her daughter. Thomas Carter was an employee of Peter Baeza's. Until he met Baeza, no one would give Carter a job because of his seizure disorder. Baeza treated Carter as a human being, when other people did not, and helped him obtain disability payments for the disorder. He treated Carter like a son. Carter's seizures had almost disappeared due to Baeza's assistance. Since Baeza's death, however, Carter has lost his job and has been unable to find another. Carter's physical condition then deteriorated, and his fiancee left him. Baeza often extended credit to the elderly of the neighborhood and was kind to everybody. Carmen Baeza Waller, Peter Baeza's daughter, described her father as a class act, a gentleman. He taught her about her Chilean heritage and that males can be gentle. She looked for someone like her father when she was ready to get married. The most difficult part of her father's passing was the look in her mother's eyes when she learned her husband of 39 years was dead. After the funeral, the family brought a collage of photographs from Baeza's life to his widow's home. Carmen Waller's four-year-old son moved all his toys next to the collage and explained, I just wanted to play with Poppo, like we used to. Peter Baeza's memorial service was standing-room only. People whom the family did not know approached them and described Baeza's acts of kindness. Many elderly people who could not attend wrote letters and cards. It would have been easier for Waller to accept her father's death if it had been the result of poor health. She wonders what it will be like for her children to grow up without their grandfather. Fanny Baeza met her future husband when she was nine years old and he was seven. They immigrated to the United States from Chile on Easter Sunday, 1962, with their two children, whom they hoped to raise in a better environment. Baeza worked as an aircraft mechanic until he bought the Gourmet Market in 1972. Fanny Baeza worked as a public health nurse until her retirement in 1985, when she was supervising nearly 100 other nurses. Peter Baeza was responsible, honest, and trustworthy. He was a good father, a good husband, and a good provider. Fanny Baeza was recovering from breast cancer when her husband was murdered. When Ms. Baeza lost her husband, she lost everything. With her children grown and moved out, all she had was her husband for company. She suffered financially, as there was little insurance, and nothing remained after probate. She had to sell her home and begin working again. Since the murder, she wakes up every morning at 3:15 a.m., the time when she learned of her husband's death from a telephone call. Peter Baeza used to call his wife four or five times a day to tell her how much he loved her. After his death, however, she has become very lonely, as there is nobody to call me, nobody to share my day with, nobody to hear how his day was. Just me. Peter Baeza taught his son Charles a work ethic and politeness. Although the family initially came together after his death, they have since grown further apart. The financial impact of Peter Baeza's death was devastating. There was not enough money in the estate even to pay for the funeral. When Charles and Fanny Baeza visited the store after the murder, people thanked them for letting Peter Baeza be a part of their lives. One woman told Charles how she moved to the neighborhood, fleeing her former husband. She had a young son and no money. Peter Baeza extended her credit until she got a job. She eventually became successful, and stated she never would have made it but for Peter Baeza's generosity and faith in her. As Charles Baeza summarized, This is not a regular guy. There is nobody like him. There never will be... . I'll live my life trying to be like him. 2. Defense Evidence Defendant testified, and presented several witnesses who described his background. Defendant's own testimony covered both the general circumstances of his life and the specific incidents raised by the People's penalty phase evidence.