Ariel Castro sits with one of his attorneys Jaye Schlachet during his sentencing in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court,Thursday, August 1, 2013. (Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)
Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro appear in court today where he is expected to be sentenced to life in prison, plus 1,000 years.
Michelle Knight was the only woman to appear and make a statement at the hearing. "I spent eleven years in hell, now your hell is just beginning," she said of Castro in a statement read to the court.
Family members made statements on behalf of Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus.
Prosecutors began detailing Ariel Castro's daily assaults on the women, recounted in diaries that compared the women's experience to that of prisoners of war.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Andrew Burke said Mr. Castro turned his house into a prison by creating a makeshift alarm system and chaining the women inside bolted bedrooms.
Bedroom windows were boarded shut from the inside with heavy closet doors and doorknobs had been removed and replaced with multiple locks, he said. The house was divided in ways to make it more secure and to hide the existence of rooms, he said.
Mr. Castro repeatedly starved and beat one of the victims each time she was pregnant, forcing her to miscarry five times.
Castro, 53, pleaded guilty to 937 charges last week, including aggravated murder, rape and kidnapping, to avoid the death penalty.
Castro then addressed the court. "I'm not a monster, I'm sick," he said.
Watch live streaming video HERE, the hearing will last approximately from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
