“For so many years, our only thought was for this day,” said Leonor Garzon, speaking in Spanish. “There was no planning for the future, only waiting for justice to be served. Now we see that even though justice takes time, it is possible.”
   McGhee, who has addresses in both New York and London, was found guilty last month of second-degree murder in the 2001 attack against Garzon, a 35-year-old set designer, originally from Colombia. “I did not commit this crime…I’ve said it time and time again,” McGhee said during the sentencing. “To lock me up for doing this is senseless.”
   His attorney, Charles Abercrombie plans to appeal the verdict.
   Following the murder, prosecutors say McGhee fled to England, but returned in 2006 after being caught by authorities for lying on his British citizenship application.
   “Today’s sentencing will hopefully bring some comfort to the relatives and friends of a completely innocent victim who was brutally beaten to death for no apparent reason,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. “The defendant deserves to be punished for this senseless and sickening crime.”
   Although the exact details of the crime never came to light, prosecutors said that in the early morning hours of Aug. 15, 2001, McGhee hit Garzon on back of the head with a blunt object and then robbed him after the victim was on the ground. Garzon suffered massive brain damage and died two weeks later.
   Because Garzon was gay, the murder was originally believed to be a hate crime. But during the investigation, no evidence surfaced that McGhee targeted Garzon because of his sexual orientation.
   Residents of Bogota, Colombia, Leonor and Armando Garzon got on the first flight to New York after hearing about the attack. Both parents sat with their son — one of three children — as he lay in a coma for weeks before succumbing to his injuries on Sept. 4, 2001 at Elmhurst Hospital.
   “I caressed him and talked into his ear, in case he might hear me,” Leonor Garzon said. “But he never woke up.”
   After Edgar Garzon’s death, his parents decided to stay in the U.S., moving into his apartment in Jackson Heights. Even though they spoke no English nor had any relatives in the country, they dedicated themselves to making sure that their son’s murder did not get lost in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, or from the passage of time.
   It was a tough few years. The leads in the case were sparse — snippets of information about other suspects, information from witnesses about a mysterious red car seen shortly before the attack — but for the most part, it was a long and agonizing wait, Leonor Garzon said.
   “Our lives the past seven years have consisted of knocking on doors seeking help to bring to light this merciless and cruel crime that you committed,” Leonor Garzon said at the sentencing, speaking directly to McGhee. “You’ve deprived us of living a full life in our old age and of family unity….we can never be together again.”