UPDATE: A Duval County Circuit Court judge has sentenced Gloria Williams to 18 years in prison for the kidnapping of Kamiyah Mobley.
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Nearly 20 years after Kamiyah's Mobley's disappearance, Gloria Williams will be sentenced for Jacksonville's most notorious kidnapping. The decision begins at 10:30 a.m.
Friday’s pronouncement of sentence will be brief; there are no more legal arguments to be made, no testimony pending.
All that’s left is for Circuit Judge Marianne Aho to pronounce the punishment she believes accords with the crime. Williams, who pleaded guilty in February to kidnapping and interference with custody, faces up to 22 years in prison as part of that plea deal.
The judge’s decision comes a month after the final sentence hearing. On May 4, at the end of two days of testimony, the judge said she wanted to take her time before she issued a sentence.
“This is a very unusual case,” Aho said, “and I’m going to take my time considering everything that has been presented to the court to make sure that I am as thorough as possible.”
The July 10, 1998 kidnapping rocked Jacksonville, and ultimately forced changes in hospital procedures around the country. But even after 19 years, the case of Baby Kamiyah continues to fascinate. The girl raised in South Carolina as Alexis Manigo appeared in March on a contentious episode of "Iyanla: Fix My Life,” a show on Oprah Winfrey's OWN Network. Williams’ two-day sentence hearing was livestreamed on the Internet, and drew reporters from South Carolina and New York. A screenplay writer who is working on a Kamiyah Mobley story for the Lifetime Channel attends every hearing.
It’s not clear if Judge Aho will hew to the highest penalty or show leniency in sentencing. Both of Williams’ sons and her husband pleaded for mercy, as did a tearful, repentant Williams.
Prosecutor Alan Mizrahi said only the maximum would satisfy the horror Williams inflicted on Shanara Mobley, who was just 16 when her first child was stolen. (Mobley herself told the judge she thought death was the only appropriate punishment.)
READ MORE | Woman writes eleventh-hour letter to judge requesting leniency for kidnapper Gloria Williams
Court transcripts released this week include Mizrahi's reference to a 2010 case he thought relevant to this one. In March of that year,19-year-old Jasmine White posed as a social worker and stole a baby from a Westside home. A citywide manhunt turned up the child, unharmed, after only 13 hours. Still, Mizrahi noted, White was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Tellingly, Kamiyah declined to testify on Williams’ behalf. In lieu of testimony, Williams’ attorney entered into evidence a handful of interviews the teen has given reporters, including her interview with First Coast News.
“Of course, I’m not going to say, ‘Throw her in jail and throw away the key, or throw her underneath the jail,’” she said at the time. “Of course, I don’t want to see so many years. But I understand a crime was done, you know? So, I understand some punishment has to be rendered.”
Court proceedings begin at 10:30 Friday morning, and will be livestreamed on the First Coast News Facebook page and website.
READ MORE: Exclusive one-on-one interview with Kamiyah Mobley