Reading poem helps Angela Kramer express feelings after Borizov sentenced to life

WHEATON – In the days following the murders of her parents and brother, Angela Kramer professed her feelings of fear and sadness in the form of a poem.

“I awoke to glass, pops and screams ... Oh how I wish it was just a horrible dream,” Kramer tearfully read Monday at the sentencing hearing for Johnny Borizov as she recalled the night she hid in her closet while Jacob Nodarse shot and killed members of her family.

She finished writing that poem about a year later, after the deaths of her father Jeff, mother Lori and brother Michael, but on Monday, Borizov would hear it for the first time before spending the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Judge Daniel Guerin sentenced Borizov after a jury found him guilty on three counts of murder and one count of solicitation of murder for orchestrating the deaths of the Kramer family at their Darien home in March 2010.

Borizov received natural life sentences, to be served consecutively, for each of the first-degree murder counts. Guerin also sentenced Borizov to the maximum 30 years for the solicitation charge.

“I never stop thinking of them and how Jeff, Lori and Michael suffered in their last minutes,” said Judith Pokorny, Jeff Kramer’s mother, at the sentencing hearing. “I wish Johnny Borizov could suffer as much and be the one being put in the ground.”

Borizov showed little emotion during the sentencing, the same demeanor he displayed throughout the almost four-week trial that began in April, and did not speak at the sentencing hearing. Defense attorney Susana Ortiz read a statement that she said she and Borizov prepared together.

“I will profess my innocence until my last breath,” Ortiz read on behalf of Borizov.

Attorney’s for the defense said they plan on appealing.

Defense attorneys attempted to prove during the trial that Nodarse, 26, formerly of Countryside, acted alone when he committed the murders of the Kramer family due to a long history of drug and mental abuse.

He has pleaded guilty but mentally ill and faces 45 years to life in prison. His sentencing date is set for Aug. 12.

Judge Daniel Guerin denied the defense’s motion for a new trial for Borizov on Monday.

“You have taken your last breath of freedom’s air,” Guerin told the 31-year-old of Willow Springs before handing down his ruling.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors painted Borizov as someone with severe anger issues toward the Kramer family and toward Angela Kramer, the mother of Borizov’s son. Prosecutors also referred to him as allegedly using fear tactics to force Nxaodarse to carry out the murders.

As court adjourned, members of the Kramer family hugged, and a sense of relief was felt throughout the hallway leading to the courtroom – the same hallway where, just two months earlier, they spent four weeks waiting to learn of Borizov’s fate.

Kramer finished her poem on a note of hope as she told the courtroom she will not say goodbye, but will see her family later and live on in the memories she had with her family.

“I am a victim and my family are victims of such a senseless crime that I’m here today to say we will no longer be victims,” she said. “After today, I’m going to go on happily with my life.”