Rachel Morin's mother braces for Monday sentencing of killer

(NewsNation) — The mother of a Maryland woman who was raped and murdered by an undocumented immigrant in 2023 is bracing for the killer’s sentencing hearing Monday, which she predicts will be “emotional.”

Patty Morin tells “NewsNation Prime” she has spent the last two weeks writing a victim-impact statement to share publicly as Victor Martinez-Hernandez appears before a judge. A jury in April convicted Martinez-Hernandez in the brutal killing of Rachel Morin, 37, a single mother of five, whom he attacked as she jogged on a path in suburban Baltimore.

“I am, at the moment, doing well. I think I’m all cried out,” Patty said Sunday evening.

While the process of writing her statement has involved reliving the crime, there has been an upside, too, the mother said.

“You also are reliving all the memories that you’ve shared with Rachel — like when I found out I became pregnant, when I was carrying her, the dreams and hopes I had for her … what she was like as a child,” Patty said. “All those things come rushing into your mind.”

Her goal, she said, was to “convey it so the judge sees how precious and valuable Rachel was.”

In addition to her own statement, Patty said some of Rachel’s children, including the teen daughter who was the last person to speak with her, will make statements at the sentencing hearing.

“That’s going to be a very emotional time tomorrow,” Patty said.

Martinez-Hernandez entered the U.S. illegally multiple times from his native El Salvador, where he was accused of murdering a woman in December 2022. He was expelled each time he crossed the border in early 2023, authorities said.

After ultimately getting in, he was linked to the assault of a woman and her 9-year-old daughter in Los Angeles.