Renee Manies, Randy Manies’ widow, and Tracy Plowman, his sister-in-law, addressed Judge Patricia Oney Monday morning in Butler County Courthouse before Phillips Platt’s sentencing in the killing of Manies.
Here are the statements they read in court:
RENEE MANIES’ STATEMENT:
The 10 months since Randy’s death have been one of the most difficult times in my life. We all know we have to face death someday. As a married couple with children and grandchildren, we hoped to at least grow a little old together, maybe at least another 15-20 years. We talked of sitting on our porch in our rocking chairs and reflect on how far we have come together.
When we first got married we had people tell us two broke people like us would never make it. We had our struggles with anything any married couple could face, but through it all, we could not imagine being without one another. I truly believe we were made for each other by God. We filled each others voids. Opposites attract, I guess. Together, we made a complete person.
He was the only daddy my two oldest children ever knew. Josh, now 23, was 7 and Echo, 21, was 5 when they asked Randy if they could call him “Daddy.” It couldn’t have made him anymore proud until five years ago when he found out he was going to be a “Papaw.” He would call me from the flea market and say, “Guess who I’m holding?” The grandbabies would be there with their mom and Papaw Randy would get to call me and “rub it in.” Joshie Jr. still asks me why Papaw is in heaven.
My two youngest sons, Ransom and Daniel, feel the strain and pain every minute, every hour, everyday. Daniel asked me the other day, ‘We were rich when daddy was here, weren’t we?’ Their dad gave them anything he could. He gave his kids and me everything he could. That’s all he worried about, getting more to take care of us. And, honestly, if it weren’t for my kids, I don’t know if I could forgive Keri, Phil and Mr. Renfro. But I can see where my 23-year-old son could be sitting in the same seat as Phil Platt. But thank God my son did have some kind of father in his life. I will pray for Phillip and hope he will pray for us.
TRACY PLOWMAN’S STATEMENT:
Your Honor, my name is Tracy Plowman and I am Randy’s sister-in-law. I am married to one of his younger brothers.
Phillip put a value on Randy’s life of $140 because that’s what he helped murder Randy to gain. Phillip told us that is what Randy’s life was worth. Because of his actions Phillip valued his own freedom at $70 because that and a few pieces of jewelry are what Randy was killed for Phillip to gain. That is such a waste.
I am not without compassion for Phillip Platt. I pray for him and his family, for their pains over the past few months and their fears as they face the uncertainty over what is to come in their lives. I have days that I want to forgive...and then I look into the eyes of my sister-in-law and her children. I have days that I want to be a better person than I am and say ‘everybody makes mistakes,’ and then I think about what they did to Randy and how this will forever affect the lives of innocent people that I love who deserved so much better than what they have suffered. The emotional roller coaster created for me and my family is endless in its pains. For some of us, our feelings have ranged from forgiveness to the purest forms of hatred for the cowardly, despicable and depraved individual that Phillip Platt has shown himself to be to us. It does not matter to us, Randy’s family, that Phillip Platt did not directly inflict the pressure that lead to the torturous death of Randy. For Phillip to deny responsibility is the equivalent of one person shooting another and then blaming the death on the gun. Riccardo Renfro was Phillip Platt’s weapon. I believe that Phillip Platt searched out his weapon because he knew that Randy would put up a serious fight and Phillip would not be able to handle Randy on his own. I believe that Phillip Platt probably selected his weapon based on the biggest person that he knew who would be willing to participate in a robbery. Phillip Platt acquired that weapon when he texted Riccardo Renfro and planned to ‘hit a lick.’ Phillip Platt loaded that weapon when he hid in the closet with Riccardo Renfro and waited for Randy to come into the house. Phillip Platt fired that weapon when he charged out of the closet and attacked Randy and continued to beat him after Riccardo Renfro was holding Randy by his neck. Oh yeah, without a doubt, Phillip Platt murdered my brother-in-law.
In his sentencing, Phillip Platt deserves the same mercy that he showed to Randy and our family when he helped to plan the robbery, when he cowardly beat a defenseless man while he was being viciously attacked and fighting for his life, when he stood by as Randy begged for his life and choked on his own vomit and when he then divided up the money and items stolen from the body of a dead man. Your Honor, for me and my family, 15 to life is not enough.
Thank you.
HAMILTON — It was the dream of Randy and Renee Manies to grow old together, to rock away their later years on the front porch, to spoil their grandchildren.
But those plans were shattered on Aug. 9, 2010, when Randy Manies, 40, was lured to a Middletown residence on First Avenue, robbed of $140 and killed.
“It just seems like a bad, bad dream,” Renee Manies said Monday while sitting outside Butler County Common Pleas Court. “But it’s reality.”
A few minutes earlier, Phillip Platt, 26, of Village Drive, Middletown, was sentenced to 15 years to life for his role in Manies’ death. Platt was found guilty May 20 of murder and aggravated robbery.
Platt plotted with his girlfriend, Keri Kakaris, and Riccardo Renfro to lure Manies to rob him, according to police and prosecutors. But Manies put up a fight and was choked to death by Renfro, with Platt involved in the melee, according to prosecutors.
Kakaris pleaded guilty in January to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery; she has not yet been sentenced. Renfro’s trial on an aggravated murder charge is set to begin July 5.
Before sentencing, Renee Manies and her sister-in-law, Tracy Plowman, read from prepared statements. Several times, the women, their arms around each other, broke down in tears.
Renee Manies described how their friends tried to convince them not to get married because of their limited finances. They didn’t listen.
“I truly believe we were made for each other by God,” she said. “We filled each other’s voids. Together, we made a complete person.”
Plowman said the family’s feeling have ranged from “forgiveness to the purest forms of hatred for the cowardly, despicable and depraved individual” that Platt became.
She said Platt “deserves the same mercy that he showed” to Manies when he “cowardly beat a defenseless man while he was being viciously attacked and fighting for his life...”
After the women walked to the back on the courtroom, Platt said: “I wish I could bring him back.” He added that every day he prays for Manies and his family.
After the sentencing, while sitting outside the courtroom, Plowman said the family wanted justice, not revenge. “There is no sense of celebrating,” she said.
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