Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega read aloud a victim-impact letter by Maldonado's mother, Paulette Smith, who wrote of her daughter's dreams. She said sentencing revived "the intense pain to our family which can never be alleviated."
Once we have a child diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, then we get involved with the research, said Paulette Smith, a researcher at Joe DiMaggio Childrens Hospital. We reach out to the families to let them be aware that the federal government is doing this research for blood relatives.