The attack left an exchange student unable to walk or speak. Marcy Cruz says she waited in the car while Viramontes took a bat and said he was going to find someone to rob.
Edwin Cruz says he's embarrassed that his daughter Marcy was involved in a crime but says she is doing the right thing now.
"She is doing the right thing, I think she knows what happened was wrong and she's accepting it, you know, and she's up to it now," said Edwin Cruz, father of Marcy Cruz.
Marcy Cruz testified against her former boyfriend on Monday. Heriberto Viramontes is in trial for beating and robbing Stacy Jurich & Natasha McShane. McShane was so badly injured by that now three years later she can't speak or walk on her own.
"Most of all, I wish from the bottom of my heart the best for Natasha. That's an innocent victim and I wish the best for her to get really, really well," said Edwin Cruz.
Marcy Cruz testified she was with Viramontes on April 23rd 2010 and he said, "I don't want you to be involved in nothing I'm gonna do. That's why I'm parking far away."
Cruz described Viramontessaid he wanted to rob someone and later: "He went to back of the van. Grabbed the bat and jumped out of the car," Cruz said.
The prosecutor asked: "When he returned to the van what did the defendant say?"
Cruz: "To drive off."
Prosecutor: "What does he have with him?"
Cruz: "Two purses."
Cruz further told jurors that: "He stated that the girls were really pretty and he did some bogus [expletive]."
Cruz testified after using credit cards from the purses and Viramontes threw items from the purses away.
"He told me that if anything happened to say that he got the purse from a crack head," said Cruz.
Under cross examination by one of Viramontes attorneys, a Defense attorney asks Cruz: "You had said you had given many statements?"
Cruz responds:"Yes."
The attorney asks: "You told police a totally different story than you told today?"
Cruz answers: "Yes."
Cruz testified that she agreed to plead guilty and receive a lesser jail sentence in return for her testimony. Cruz was asked about her changing story when the discussion of a plea agreement was going on.
Asked by the defense attorney, "When you were up in the State's Attorney's office, they were talking about things to benefit you?"
Cruz: "Yes."
Defense attorney: "On that day you told them Mr. Viramontes came back with the bat and the purse?"
Cruz: "Yes."
Cruz also revealed on the witness stand that she had untreated mental illness at the time of the alleged attacks, and also, that she was high right after the attacks.
