POLK COUNTY, Ga. — The man accused of killing a Polk County police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to spare himself from the death penalty.
Four and a half years ago, Seth Brandon Spangler killed detective Kristen Hearne northwest of metro Atlanta. She was 29.
Hearne’s family told Channel 2′s Chris Jose on Thursday that there is never closure but they do have accountability.
Matt Hearne, Kristen’s husband, spoke to Jose an hour after the judge sentenced Spangler to prison without the possibility of parole.
The father shared with Jose his 8-year-old son’s chilling words.
“He said, ‘I’m going to become a police officer so I can figure out how to get in that jail and kill him.’ And that’s coming from an 8 year-old and that’s hard to hear,” Matt Hearne said.
His son, Isaac, was just 3 when his mother’s life was cut short.
“I told him, I said, ‘Son, you never have to worry about him. He’s never going to hurt anybody else,’” Matt Hearne said.
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In September 2017, Spangler shot and killed the detective. Spangler ambushed her and Officer David Goodrich when they stopped to investigate a suspicious car on a county road. Goodrich survived.
“There will always be a scar as far as the hurt,” Matt Hearne said. “As far as complete closure, I don’t think there ever is.”
Matt Hearne told Jose that a life sentence saves his son from a long, painful trial.
“If it was me, myself, I would’ve said, ‘Go ahead and go with a trial. Let’s execute him.’ But it ain’t about me,” he said.
Now remarried, Matt Hearne said his family will continue to heal now that they have justice and accountability.
“If Kristen were sitting here today, she would’ve said the same thing. ‘Get it over with. Get it done. I want him away from Isaac. I don’t want Isaac to have to go through this,’” Matt Hearne said.
Spangler is now headed to a state prison.
The case against a second person accused of killing Kristen Hearne is in progress.
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