D'Andre Howard gets life in Hoffman Estates triple murder

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. (WLS) -- D'Andre Howard was sentenced to life in prison in the triple slaying of a Hoffman Estates family.

Howard's sentencing was delayed because he originally refused to come to court. The judge visited him in his cell, and by mid-afternoon he appeared when the sentence was handed down.

Last month, Howard was found guilty in the 2009 stabbing deaths of his girlfriend's family.

Amanda Engelhardt's father, Alan, 57; sister, Laura, 18; and grandmother, Marlene Gacek, 73; were killed. Her mother was wounded in the attack.

Engelhardt testified during the trial. The two have a child together.

Howard's attorneys argued he was mentally ill.

"He should have been better served. Where were the people of Illinois all those years? The system failed him, and failed the Engelhardts as well," Deana Binstock said.

Jeff Engelhardt was at college during the attack. He read a victim impact statement in court.

"While you could not erase or delete what Al, Marlene and Laura did and meant to all of us, they can no longer write any more chapters. The least you can do is try to fill the remaining page s of your life with the positivity and love they would have brought," he said.