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Emil Salem
The widow of slain Clinton Township party store owner Emil Salem sent a message Friday at sentencing in Macomb County Circuit Court for the killer: She forgives him.
Rita Shaba, Salem's sister-in-law, spoke on behalf of Salem's widow, Rafida, in which she repeatedly said that she forgives Ujuan Burton, 32, of Oak Park, "for taking the love of my life away forever," Christina Hall of the Detroit Free Press reports.
An apologetic Burton was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He pleaded no contest in February in the deadly March 26, 2015, robbery at the store on Garfield near 17½ Mile.
Shaba also said the widow forgives Burton for taking away her best friend and soul mate, "the best father any child could ever ask for" and "for scarring my children in ways that cannot be healed."
