The man convicted of shooting blindly through a door while trying to collect a drug debt, killing young mother Jaclyn Wirth in front of her children on Dec. 14, 2011, was sentenced to 58 years in prison Friday during an emotional hearing in New London Superior Court.

A 12-member New London Superior Court jury in February found LaShawn R. Cecil guilty of murdering Wirth, a stay-at-home mother, at her Norwich apartment. Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed imposed the sentence after members of the victim's family spoke about five years of tears and anger they have experienced since Wirth, a devoted mother with a bright future, died an agonizing death in front her sons.

"All I ask is that he not be allowed to do this to anyone else," said Wirth's aunt, Peggy Lufkin, who with her husband is raising Wirth's sons, Sergio and Kymani.

Lufkin remembered telling the boys their mother was gone, and how Sergio said he didn't want his Christmas presents that year. He just wanted his mother back, she sobbed.

Testimony had revealed that Wirth, 26, was home with her sons, then ages 2 and 7, in her East Baltic Street apartment when she was awakened by a knock on the door about 1:30 a.m. She was fatally shot when Cecil fired through the door with a 9 mm handgun, according to testimony. Norwich police questioned Cecil shortly after the crime but did not arrest him until 2015, when they renewed the investigation with help from the Southeastern Connecticut Cold Case Task Force.

The jury had listened to the 911 call that Wirth made as she lay on her apartment floor bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds and her oldest son begging her not to pass out.

The state had won a conviction despite the lack of physical evidence tying Cecil to the crime and witnesses, many of them convicted felons themselves, who were often uncooperative.

Cecil continues to proclaim his innocence and is expected to appeal. Wearing a neon orange jumpsuit and a full beard, he appeared to be listening impassively to the anguished survivors of the crime. He looked back often into the gallery at his own family, who also shed tears, and declined to address the court.

Police investigators who worked on the case listened from a back row.

Prosecutor Stephen M. Carney, mindful that Wirth's son Sergio might want to read a transcript of the sentencing one day, remarked that the boy, then 7, had been brave that night. Inspector Rhett D'Amico also assisted with the prosecution.

"I hope when he's a man and he reads about this, he'll remember he was a small boy and he did his best to protect his mom," Carney said.

Parents always tell their kids there are no monsters, but on that night close to Christmas in 2011, monsters did come to the door, Carney said.

Carney said the boy should know that some in the community had concealed their knowledge of the crime, but others came forward with important information. They should know, Carney said, that law enforcement had worked hard, particularly Detective Kyle Besse of the Norwich Police, but that Wirth's family had pushed hard, too, to get the case resolved.  

Cecil, who had dropped out of school at age 16, had ten prior convictions dating back to 1999, according to testimony, many of them narcotics-related. He has six children of his own, according to testimony, but appears to have never supported them financially.

During the trial, the judge had heard evidence outside the jury's presence indicating that Cecil could not legally possess a gun due to an earlier felony conviction and found him guilty, additionally, of illegal possession of a firearm. The judge tried the firearm charge separately so that the jury would not be prejudiced by his felony record.

Defense attorney Christopher Duby spoke briefly, noting that Cecil has been nothing but friendly and respectful to him and that when he came across members of Wirth's family in the hallway, they treated him with almost "shocking" respect given the circumstances. He asked the judge to fashion a sentence that takes into account the relative weakness of the case.

The judge, noting the jury had heard the evidence and found Cecil guilty, said she was taking into account a lot of factors, including the facts of the case, Cecil's unstable upbringing and criminal history and the remarks to the victim's family. 

"Of particular concern, in this case, the court must consider the safety of the community," Jongbloed said.

She said Cecil had shown a horrific disregard for human life.

"As stated, no child should lose their mother the way these children have lost their mother," she said.

The judge told Wirth's family that while no sentence can undo what has happened, perhaps the family now will be able to move on in some ways.

k.florin@theday.com