OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – Amanda Hernandez said nothing at her sentencing hearing — but her own text messages spoke volumes.
Texts between Hernandez and her husband, Carlos, were central to the case against her, revealing the extent of her role in planning a deadly home invasion that killed 72-year-old husband, father, and grandfather Hussein Murray.
“Turn phone off when you are out just in case,” Hernandez wrote in one message. In another, sent at 1:31 a.m., she wrote: “I’m so nervous, but you guys seem to have it down, and I’m glad you have a good getaway car,” Judge Nanci Grant read aloud during the sentencing.
The court noted the full scope of Hernandez’s involvement — from planning the attack to what Hernandez herself hoped to gain, regardless of the cost.
Hussein’s wife, Linda Murray, who survived the attack at their home and was married to Hussein for 54 years, addressed the court directly.
“Amanda, maybe instead of looking for the easy way to get a house with a big yard, and if you and your husband had worked as hard as my husband did, you might have had one – without planning to rob us and getting my husband killed. You get the punishment you deserve for robbing me of the love of my life and the father of my children,” Linda Murray said.
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A family forever changed
The attack shattered the Murray family.
In the days just before Hussein was killed, the family had shared a rare moment of togetherness they couldn’t have known would be one of their last.
“On the Sunday before he was murdered — five days before he was murdered — we managed for the first time to all be together at the house,” said son Moheeb Murray.
“Little did any of us know that at the same time my father was overjoyed by our togetherness, Ms. Hernandez and her co-conspirators were plotting their scheme — their scheme to invade my parents’ home and take what they had spent a lifetime to build,” Moheeb Murray said.
Moheeb also called out Hernandez for never once looking toward the family during the hearing or showing any sign of remorse.
Defense speaks on Hernandez’s silence
Hernandez’s attorney, Scott Kozak, addressed the court on her behalf — explaining that her silence was a deliberate choice.
“We agreed that nothing she could say today would be adequate in any way, shape, or form,” Kozak said.
“Nothing she does moving forward, the time that she’s going to do, the efforts she makes, is going to replace a father, a husband or a grandfather,” Kozak said.
Kozak also suggested his client would take back her actions if she could.
“I know that if she were to have the ability to rewind time and change all of that, she would,” Kozak said.
Sentence handed down
Judge Grant sentenced Hernandez to seven to 20 years in prison and ordered her to have no contact with the Murray family.