HOUSTON (AP) - The Latest on a Brazilian couple sentenced in Texas for helping their daughter kidnap their grandson. (all times local):
6:10 p.m.
A Brazilian woman who remains a fugitive from U.S. authorities over charges she abducted her son says she’s shocked and saddened by a judge’s decision to send her parents to prison.
Marcelle Guimaraes’ parents received light sentences Wednesday for helping their daughter kidnap their grandson and keep him in Brazil the last five years, away from his father in Houston.
In a Skype call with reporters in Houston from her apartment in the Brazilian city of Salvador, Marcelle Guimaraes says her parents have done nothing wrong.
Her parents, Carlos and Jemima Guimaraes, say they helped their daughter because they believed she was a victim of domestic violence.
Marcelle Guimaraes accused her ex-husband, Christopher Brann, of being violent on numerous occasions.
Brann has denied being abusive toward his ex-wife.
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2:40 p.m.
A federal judge has sentenced a Brazilian couple to minimal prison sentences for helping their daughter kidnap their grandson, who has been living in Brazil for the last five years after being taken from Texas.
Carlos Guimaraes was sentenced to three months in prison while his wife Jemima received a one-month term during a court hearing Wednesday in Houston federal court.
The couple told the judge they believed they did nothing wrong and were only supporting their daughter because they believed she was a victim of domestic abuse.
They were arrested in February after flying to Miami. A jury in May convicted them of kidnapping but acquitted them of a related conspiracy charge.
The daughter Marcelle Guimaraes, who violated a custody order in a divorce case, is a fugitive and remains in Brazil with her 9-year-old son, Nico.
The boy’s father is American and lives in Houston.
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