Baby’s family feels little consolation

Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 19, 2002

FERRIDAY, La. &045; On Feb. 21, after six short months of life, Chloe Madison Britt breathed her last.

On Thursday morning, the man convicted in her death was sentenced to die by lethal injection.

The outcome was little consolation to Britt’s family. &uot;Maddie,&uot; as everyone called her, is still gone.

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But Lillian Watson, Britt’s grandmother, said Jeffery Havard’s death sentence has given her and her daughter, Maddie’s mother Rebecca Britt, a chance to move on.

&uot;It’ll give us some closure,&uot; Watson said.

For the past 10 months, the family has been unable to get past Maddie’s death.

Watson said her daughter &uot;has been in limbo&uot; since the murder. &uot;She’s been unable to go on with her life.&uot;

Watson said she will always miss Maddie. In her testimony Wednesday night before Havard’s sentencing, she talked of all the things the birthdays the girl would never celebrate, all the living she would never get a chance to do and all the memories that would never be made.

&uot;Nothing is going to bring Maddie back,&uot; she said. &uot;So many hearts were touched by her little life.&uot;

But at the very least, Watson said, Havard will pay for his crimes. &uot;We do feel like justice has been served.&uot;

And perhaps the severity of the punishment might, she said, act as &uot;some kind of deterrent&uot; to potential criminals.

But Watson said neither she nor her daughter is in any way happy that Havard will die, and they know that his family is just beginning a mournful journey.

&uot;We pray for the Havard family,&uot; she said.

Even so, Watson said the punishment was fitting for a man who assaulted and murdered her granddaughter. &uot;It was just and it was right.&uot;