Maxwell Sherman Admits To Killing 18-Year-Old Newlywed: So Why Is His Sentence A ‘Slap On The Wrist’?

Maxwell Sherman doesn’t hide the fact that, in August 2013, he assaulted, sexually abused, and strangled 18-year-old newlywed Lauren Daverin-Gresham.

The 20-year-old convicted murderer confessed that he met Daverin-Gresham at a Long Island park and committed an act that was “out of character” for him.

Since making that confession — reportedly to spare his family and the family of his victim the pain of a drawn-out trial — he has been awaiting sentencing.

On Thursday, he found out what that sentence would be, and it has left the victim’s family furious.

Because of his confession, CBS New York notes, Maxwell Sherman received an 18 years to life sentence that would have him eligible for parole in 16 years.

That means it is conceivable he could be out of prison before he turns 40 years old.

“He belongs in jail and he belongs there for the rest of his life,” the victim’s mother, Kathleen Daverin, told reporters following the judgment. “I will be at every parole hearing as long as I’m still alive. I will be at every parole hearing to make sure he never gets out…. What he did to my daughter was heinous; disgusting.”

The victim’s uncle, Luke McLaughlin, agreed.

“Think about what you did every day,” he said when allowed to address the defendant. “And I’ll see you in 18 years. Make no mistake about that, I will see you in 18 years, and I’ll make sure you’re going to stay in there.”

Sherman’s defense attorney William Petrillo argued that alcohol played a major role in the murder of the newlywed and that his client was not in a “proper frame of mind that night.”

Sherman did offer an apology at the sentencing, but family members felt it was “for show.”

In a separate report from Newsday, Sherman was quoted as saying that he offered “no excuses.”

“I apologize to my family and [for] the pain I caused them,” he added.

Many feel this hasn’t been a stellar year for law-and-order, with lax sentences like this one in the news almost every day. One of the last that was reported here at the Inquisitr involved a judge who reduced the sentence of a convicted rapist.

The rapist’s target: a three-year-old girl.

The judge felt that the maximum sentence of 33 years-to-life for the convicted would have been “cruel and unusual punishment.” Instead he sentenced the perpetrator to 10 years in prison.

Why do you think people like this and Maxwell Sherman are allowed off so easy, readers? Sound off in the comments section.

[Image of Maxwell Sherman and Lauren Daverin-Gresham via CBS NY, linked above]