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The woman who drove the getaway car after Irish student Natasha McShane and Stacey Zurich were savagely beaten in Chicago, apologized Thursday for her role in the crime.
“I’m sorry,” Marcy Cruz, told the court before being formally sentenced to 22 years in prison for two counts of attempted murder, ABC reports.
The 28-year-old mother of two testified against her former lover Heriberto Viramontes last week in exchange for a plea deal with Cook County prosecutors.
Cruz’s “testimony was truthful,” Assistant State’s Attorney Margaret Ogarek told Judge Jorge Alonso during Thursday’s brief hearing.
Viramontes, 34, was convicted on all charges for the vicious baseball bat beating of the two young women in the early morning hours of April 23, 2010.
McShane, 27, ended up in a coma for several weeks, and is still unable to talk or walk without assistance.
Viramontes faces up to 120 years in prison. No sentencing date has been set for him.
Cruz’s father Edwin said his daughter has so much sympathy for Jurich and McShane and that she has pictures of them with her in Cook County Jail.
“I’m glad this chapter is over,” Edwin Cruz, 56, said following the sentencing.
“I think she did the right thing. She’s got a lot of time to think about what happened.”
“I know she wants the best for Natasha for her to recover the most and for her to get healthy again.”
When she took the stand she told the court how she had sex with Viramontes in her van before the two ended up in Bucktown.
Cruz testified that she stayed in her van while Viramontes grabbed a baseball bat and said he intended to rob some victims.
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