NORWICH – George Ford Jr. was given the maximum sentence in Chenango County Court Thursday and will spend the next 25 years-to-life in state prison for the murder of 12-year-old Shyanne Somers of Otselic.

“I have no doubt that you killed Shyanne Somers. What I don’t know is why,” said presiding Broome County Court Judge Joseph F. Cawley.

“What’s particularly troubling to me is the fear and terror that that younger girl went through in the last moments of her life. I hope that that fear and terror is the last thing you think about every night and the first thing you think about every morning,” said the judge.

Shyanne’s father, James Somers, spoke on his daughter’s behalf while her mother, Kathy, and other family members looked on in the courtroom.

“There is nothing that can be done to replace what we’ve lost,” James Somers said.

“He made a choice and that choice ended my daughter’s life and now you need to make the choice of what will be done with his,” said Somers, speaking to Cawley before sentencing.

More details from Thursday's proceedings will be published in Friday's Evening Sun.