Driver Who Killed 2 Children Given 2 Life Terms

Just before ordering that Steven Allen Abrams spend the rest of his life in prison, an Orange County judge Friday offered the convicted child killer an opportunity to speak.

It was the moment the victims’ families had wanted, a chance to hear Abrams express remorse or sorrow or an explanation for plowing his car into a Costa Mesa playground packed with children.

But the 39-year-old former salesclerk declined the judge’s offer, and moments later three bailiffs led him away to a lifetime behind bars.

And so the book closed on a murder case that ultimately left some family members without a sense of closure.

“He had a chance to say he was sorry, and he didn’t,” said Bucky Wiener, the uncle of 3-year-old Brandon Wiener, who was killed along with 4-year-old Sierra Soto in the 1999 attack that left five others injured.

The judge sentenced Abrams to two life prison terms without the possibility of parole. He also ordered that Abrams’ prison wages be garnished to pay restitution for the funeral expenses of the Wiener and Soto families. The Wiener family paid $5,000 to bury their child, the Soto family, $7,000.

The sentencing came one month after a jury recommended that Abrams be given a life sentence instead of the death penalty. Abrams was convicted of first-degree murder in August.

At Friday’s hearing in Santa Ana, family members were permitted to tell the judge the extent of their losses. Eric Soto, the father of Sierra, took to the podium but chose not to speak about his dead daughter.

Soto, who nearly broke down on the witness stand in October, said he wouldn’t talk again in public about a loss he once described as so intense that he sometimes hoped he too would die.

In a voice dripping with contempt, Soto said he believes that Abrams takes pleasure when the families express their grief. He said Abrams doesn’t deserve the satisfaction.

“It will make [Abrams] go into his cell and feel better about himself,” he said.

“I believe he showed no remorse, and his trophy is hearing the victims talk about their pain and how their lives have changed for the worse.”

Pam Wiener, the mother of Brandon Wiener, did speak of her loss.

“I have to live the rest of my life with the memory of what I saw on that playground,” said Wiener, crying. “He has destroyed my family, he has destroyed my marriage and he has shown no remorse. Nothing.”

Wiener said the holiday season would only bring more pain.

“The holidays are here, and I don’t have my baby to celebrate with. . . . It’s not fair,” she said. “I hope he suffers the way we suffered, and then some.”

After the hearing, Bucky Wiener said Abrams’ lack of remorse did not surprise him. But he said he hoped that time will help soothe the grief.

“I have to forgive [Abrams],” he said. “Sometimes you have to forgive to let go, so there won’t be any lingering bitterness.”