Paul and Dianne Marshall impact statement
Good Morning Your Honor,
We are Dianne and Paul Marshall the parents of the deceased Zackary Joseph Marshall. The loss of our son has left a hole in in our heart that will never heal and a void that can not be filled or replaced. This has affected us emotionally, physically, socially, and financially for the last 15 years of our lives.
Today we stand before you to express how the tragic loss of our son Zack has impacted us. Let me bring you to 2:14 a.m on December 18,th2010 a day and time we will never forget. We received a call from a social worker from Rhode Island hospital saying that our son was involved in an altercation and we needed to get to the hospital. We were brought into a room and I knew immediately that it was going to be bad news. As a medical professional working in a hospital I knew that being brought in that room came with the news no parent wants to hear. We were told then that our son was pronounced dead after being taken to Surgery to try to stop the bleeding from his wounds after being stabbed multiple times. One being fatal to his heart. The vision of our son laying lifeless, tubes sticking out of his mouth, and his cold body wrapped in plastic will forever be a vision we will never erase from our minds. Time stood still for us as we were directed out of the room and down a hall to a window where we were handed Zacks bloody belongings and as we left the hospital, we had to leave our son. We silently drove home crying hoping this was all a bad dream but sadly we all know it was not.
Zack was 22 years old and his sister Mariah had just turned 14. They had celebrated Mariahs birthday just a week earlier with a shopping trip to American Eagle. With a 9 year age difference Zack really stepped into the role of big brother and Mariah’s best friend. Our son Zack, was the heart of our family he was kind, curious, had an infectious smile, and so full of life. He truly was compassionate, loyal, and the life of the party. This shined through in his relationship with his family and friends. Since losing Zack, our lives have been filled with unbearable emptiness. Everyday feels incomplete. The images and thoughts of what life would be like as we stand here today .Wethink of all the milestones and memories he was not here to share in. The impact of Zacks death has taken the most toll on his sister Mariah. That day we not only lost our son but yet the innocence of our daughter. She struggles with anxiety and sleepless nights as well as Paul and I. The laughter that once filled our home has been replaced with silence and sorrow and hidden grief. Holidays and birthdays are no longer celebrations. We sometimes avoid gatherings that remind us of what we have lost and if we do attend we try not to reflect our sadness on our family and loved ones. We knowall too well those memories will not be in our future. We won’t see him get married, build his life and family and worst of we won’t see him be a father to his daughter Kira. This has all been stolen from us and from her.
The death of our son was devasting but living with the pain of not knowing what happened to him or who was responsible for over a decade without answers left us broken and at timesinconsolable. The uncertainty and waiting wastorment at times. Not knowing the answers you wanted and always haunted by the unanswered questions. There were times we felt trapped between hope and despair and almost consumed by uncertainty. Finally in February of 2021, a decade of unanswered prayers had been answered. For years, experienced physical and mental exhaustion, from the restless nights; waking up at exactly 3:00 a.m. the time in which our lives changed forever. Ten years of silence and fading hope, we finally had an answer. Time stood still, but life moved on without him and we thought justice would be served. The Indictment and the Grand Jury process was our first experience on how to navigate the judicial system. Putting a face to the crime was a moment that changed everything again relief mixed with unbearable pain. Seeing the person responsible for our son’s death was like reliving the moment we lost him.Every wound torn open again. When JasonLopes was granted bail and given house arrest,this shattered our world once again. Seeing the face of the person who destroyed our world,there was no satisfaction, only a hollow ache of pain where we felt justice should have been served.
Sitting through the trial was an experience that blends anguish, rage, exhaustion, and disbelief. We were forced to relive the loss day after day all while confronting the details of what happened, at times felt cold and detached from the pain we were feeling. We sat through every moment for our son. Our strength was born from the love of our son and the strength of our family. Day to day we held ourselves with grace and dignity even on the darkest days hearing the unimaginable and enduring the unendurable. Paul and I chose to leave during the testimony of the Medical Examiner not out of weakness but becauser we already have the image of our son lying lifeless in that bed is embedded in our minds forever. We chose to remember our son for his beautiful soul that day for ourselves, our daughter, Nadia, and our grandchildren. Determined to see it through to the end.
Every parents worst nightmare is the death of a child but also the unanswered question of “did my child suffer?” We knew then at that trial that yes Zack did suffer and he died alone. We never got to say goodbye or I love you. Sitting in that courtroom was like being forced to watch our son die again, piece by piece, through the evidence and words that tore us apart. Every testimony, every photograph, every detail added to the heartache as a reminder of what was stolen from us. We sat there powerless, listening to the witnesses describe our sons final moments as if they were just facts in a case no remorse no humanity cold and detached. We endured every day of that trial because he could not. We owed it to him to be there, even when it broke us inside. Justice was slow and painfuland we knew no verdict could ever balance the loss of our son. Each and everyday we walked into that courtroom, we carried both our grief and our love for Zack the only thing we had left of him.
The impact of the complete lack of remorse from the defendant as well as the witnesses that were granted immunity deepens the pain of what was already unbearable. Their refusal to take responsibility and cover up this crime for over a decade reopens wounds that should have begun to heal. The immunity granted feels like a shield for those unwilling to face their actions. It was devastating for us to watch those responsible walk away untouched, unrepentant, and unchanged. We stand here today before you as the victims grieving parents forced to witness the absence of humanity in those who should have shown some remorse. Both the witnesses and defendant have spoken without empathy, without acknowledgement, and without accountability. We hope that their silence speaks volumes and you consider their lack of remorse is a second injustice to our son. True justice requires truth and responsibility. We expected at least acknowledgement, but instead we were met with denial and indifference. Healing will not erase our grief but it can help carry us to peace and renewed trust in the goodness of faith, family, and life as it exists today.
There is no healing from this kind of loss only learning to live with the emptiness. Everydaywe wake up to the same reality our son is goneand the world is forever dimmer and different without him. We know that no sentence, no punishment can ever bring our son back but we hope that justice in whatever form it takes, honors his life and sends a message that what was done to him, to us, to our family will never be forgotten. We sat through every moment of that trial for our son and endured the unendurable in hope that his life is not reducedto a tragedy, and seek true justice in the furthest extent of law. This chapter of our life with close today with your judgement of sentencing but our story with our son will never end but yettoday we can begin to heal and have closure. Zack lives on in our memories, in our hearts, in his daughter, his nephew, his niece, and in every breath we take. We will never stop loving him, missing him, or speaking his name. Today I leave you with this final word. Zacks love, his laughter, his smile, his kindness, and his spirit lives on. Our lives will never be the same, and we live each day carrying the weight of his absence. I hope and pray that someday we can have peace and closure and our hearts can heal from 15 years of pain and suffering. Thank you for listening as we seek justice today for our son Zackary.
Kira Marshall Impact Statement
My name is Kira Marshall and I am Zackary Marshall’s daughter.
I was only weeks old when my father passed away. It’s hard to understand that justice is being delivered only now and I’m 15 years old.
I asked myself a lot of reflective questions trying to write this statement but many of the questions I ask myself I always found the answers were the same.
“What do I feel I’ve missed out on the most” or “How do I feel this has shaped me” and it’s hard to say because I didn’t get the chance to know him. I grew up in his memories and watched everyone I love live with the grief. I could always feel how loved he was being surrounded by people who always kept his memory alive. I remember all the bike runs, the amount of people that came, the ZJM sweatshirts and the music notes. Every year at my local high school since I can remember I present a scholarship in his name. Every year I attend a vigil for families who have lost children put together by my Nana and other mothers who have lost children and this year I read a poem for those families. If he was here, none of that would have been a part of my story. How am I supposed to measure the impact when this is all I know?
Growing up with only one parent had its challenges. I spent a lot time in the earlier years with family and friends so my mom could work to support us. I know that its because of my mom, my family and the people that I was surrounded by that my life moved in a positive direction but I’ll always have more questions than answers about what my life could have been like if I had known my father, If I had been able to make that connection and shared moments with him. I think about What would it have been like for him watch me play volleyball or what advice would he have given me about my future. What it would have been like to see him look at me with pride when I accomplished something. I don’t really know if it would have been better to know him and then lose him or not knowing him at all. There’s so much I haven’t lived yet. I didn’t get the chance to know my father, but I will live with the impact of losing him for the rest of my life. I can’t measure what I lost because I never had it and that is the impact.
Thank you.
Nadia Rouk Impact Statement
Goodmorning Your Honor,
My name is Nadia Rouk. I was Zack’s girlfriend of 5 years and I’m Kira Marshall’s mom. Kira is the daughter Zack and I share.
I appreciate the opportunity to be here to be able to tell you how losing Zack has impacted us.
Fifteen years ago, when I became a mother I had an acute understanding even at 22 years old that every single decision I was to make would be what was in the best interest of our baby. I also had the comfort of knowing, I wasn’t alone in those decisions. Unfortunately, Zack, Kira and I spent only 6 weeks together as a family. When Kira was born I watched Zack overcome with emotion at the sight of her. For six weeks, I watched as he embraced his role as a father. The last thing I saw Zack do was pick Kira up out of her swing in the apartment we shared and sit and hold her and kiss her goodbye. Then he left for the last time. I have a picture of the first time he held her when she was born that I cherish but I often think about the last time he held her hoping that I never forget it.
On the morning of December 18th, I walked into the hospital with Paul and Dianne Marshall believing Zack was alive and would live and I walked out of the hospital a different human being. I hadn’t considered that I would go in there to say a goodbye that was already gone. To see the closest person to me in my life like that, to feel an insurmountable grief for our baby and to bear witness to a mother and father learn of the loss of their child changed who I was fundamentally. I know today that experiencing that kind of shock and visceral sadness never leaves you. Everything that was would never be again.
The amalgamation of Zacks murder six weeks after our baby was born, seeing him lay lifeless in a hospital room in the middle of the night, delivering his eulogy and burying him 2 days before our first Christmas as a family, watching his parents grieve their son that night and all these years, raising a child in so much grief and stress, at times having to look our little girl in the eyes and answer questions she should never have had to ask, the 10 years we spent not knowing anything, the 4 and half years we waited for the trial, enduring the trial and this moment right now is such an inconceivable horror that I have struggled so much to articulate its true impact in just enough words to convey it here today. The magnitude of Zacks loss is immeasurable and it will live in us for the rest of our lives.
It saddened me deeply to learn of the indifference shown by the defendant and those who were involved that night having lived a day like December 18th and the years that followed. Hearing Paulo Casimiro state that he “just tried to forget about it” made it clear how easily Zack’s life was dismissed as everyone with that group also testified to the same sentiment. Observing Claudia Azizan’s demeanor in court,learning of her participation in covering up evidence and still showing up without any genuine remorse, left me with a profound sense of disbelief. Watching Enson Ibanez testify with little regard for the gravity of what occurred disgusted me in ways I didn’t realize I was capable. Most devastating was hearing Jason Lopes testify to a version of the events no one else did and also display the same indifference. As the saying goes “Birds of a feather flock together until the Cat comes” but in this situation there was always loyalty to the lie. Having been witness to that kind of disregard towards someone who not only was so meaningful to me but so important to the life of my child is something I can’t comprehend. Some say I can’t understand them because I’m not like them. I couldn’t fathom making any of the decisions they’ve made and even when I try I think about the fact that the events we learned about and the demeanors we witnessed at the trial happened 15 years after the fact. 15 years of life and experience has passed. 15 years to reflect. To reflect on taking life. Taking a father from a baby. Taking a son from his loving parents. Taking the life of a young man still in the beginning of his life.
Zack was the type of person who lived his life to the fullest. I don’t mean that in a way where people idealize those who pass on. He always did what made his feel the most alive. He was charismatic and funny. He loved getting everyone together all the time for Group Dinners, Days on the lake, Trips to the mountains, weekends on the river, a night ride through city. He truly lived. He showed up for people in meaningful ways and I always knew him to be that way even as young teenagers.
In every stage of life that I mature I think about who he could have been too. All that he would have grown. But we’ll never be afforded the opportunity to watch him self actualize into the man and father we all knew he could have been and there was so much joy in watching Kira grow that would have touched him. Her nature is so beautiful and it is the joy of my life to be her mother. The impact lies in every joyful moment creeps a reminder that he missed it and so did she. She’ll never hear him utter a single joke. She’ll never hear his laughter. She’ll never feel the energy he brought into a room. She’ll never know his essence.
As for me, losing Zack changed the trajectory of my entire life. I was only 22 years old with a newborn baby. It changed how I would experience motherhood and it changed how I would experience the world. It took the most tender and vulnerable years of motherhood from us. I pushed through so many dark days in my time as young mother. The grief crushed my academic ambition in my junior year of college. I crawled to the finish line of my college degree and I had no choice but to just work in whatever field would have me. For years, I worked full time and most times a second job too. Kira spent a lot of time in the care of others. Family, friends, daycare, after school programs. The trade off was giving her as much stability as possible. The truth of it is she lost him that day and she lost so much of me too. Ive always tried my best to keep moving forward knowing that she’s watching me and I pray all the time that everything I’ve done in this circumstance will have taught her that even in the face of the worst things that happen to us, we still stand. Today, in particular, will be one of those days.
The indignities inflicted upon Zack by Jason Lopes during and after the crime speak volumes about his character and moral capacity. This was compounded by the silence of his friends who abetted these acts without an ounce of remorse or compassion until the very end. The defendant had the choice between silence or salvation and every single day chose to serve only his own interest. Despite the time he will spend away from his family, unlike us, him and his family will always have the privilege we don’t, even from prison. It is not in anger but desire for true justice for Zack whos life was cut short by senseless violence, for his parents Dianne and Paul Marshall, who lost their son, always kept his memory alive and have never left our side, for Kira who’s life changed in an instant and will never know Zack, His sister who lost her only sibling, the whole Marshall, Barry and Silva family and Zacks friends, I ask the court today to impose a sentence that exceeds the time it’s taken to get to this point with respect to the 15 years that the defendant has had to mature and digest his own actions which we know now hasn’t happened at all, the aggravated manner in which Zack lost his life and the irreparable harm every single one of Jason Lopes’ choices has inflicted, I ask for a long and significant sentence so truth and justice can flourish.
Thank you for you time.
JUSTICE 
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