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Victims Impact Statements for Sentencing of Ryan Garner, Dec 8, 2025 by Sandra Mickanen & Tom Wilson

Related Article in Mercury News Dec 09, 2025: 

Family, friends call out ‘despicable’ son who killed beloved San Jose schoolteacher in 2019

Ryan Garner’s murder sentencing was scheduled for Monday but postponed after he was a court no-show; Cynthia Mykkanen had been previously assaulted by her son before fatal attack

By Robert Salonga | rsalonga@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: December 8, 2025 at 1:26 PM PST | UPDATED: December 9, 2025 at 4:18 AM PST

SAN JOSE — Family and friends of a beloved East San Jose elementary-school teacher brutally killed by her son six years ago excoriated the convicted murderer at his scheduled sentencing Monday, but will have to wait another month to see his formal punishment after he was a no-show in court.    FULL ARTICLE available MercuryNews.com

VICTIMS IMPACT STATEMENT, by Sandra Mickanen

 I met Cynthia during a Warriors watch Game gathering at our home.  She loved the Warriors.  She was warm and kind and beautiful, but the other thing that stood out:  She was tiny.  I mean, I don’t think she could have even weighed 100 pounds.  She was so thin.

The thing that continues to replay the most in my heart and mind and soul:  How utterly defenseless she was, how small and light..  and 57 years old.

And how Ryan was a strong, stocky, male, 35 years old.  With only one punch, he could have sent her flying across a room; but he brutally and sadistically beat her continually, throughout her entire body, and for an unfathomable amount of time.  He tortured her; to death.

A 35 year old stocky, physically strong, violent, sadistic male brutally beat to death an utterly defenseless, 57 year old female who weighed next to nothing. 

Add on, the 57 year old female was his mom; Cynthia was a beloved elementary school teacher; beloved sister to 5 siblings, a daughter, an aunt, a cousin, a neighbor, a friend..

****

Our Christianity and God’s love can be directly credited with our ability to move forward in our lives; to love each other, thrive, continue to nurture positive relationships with our family and friends; continue to walk in the light within a dark world.

And I have some prayers that result from this sadistic, torturous murder:

1.       I pray it results in a number of audits within our justice system.  A closer, more comprehensive look and examination of which criminals in jails now, will eventually be allowed to roam free and claim more victims.   I am of the belief, Ryan, who had been arrested prior, for physically beating his mother, should have never been released back into free society.  He had a sadistic, brutal, violent track record. 

I would love to know this truth:  how many inmates in the state of California, within the current decade, have served time, been released and gone on to kill, steal and destroy more innocent lives?

 

2.      I pray it results in a closer, more comprehensive look and examination of ‘anger management’ programs provided to, and sometimes, mandatory for inmates.  I believe they might be a very expensive joke on tax payers.  Ryan, who sadistically tortured his own, barely 100lb 57 years old mother; was a graduate of more than one anger management course.  And it is germane for me here, to share, around 2005, when I was a certified volunteer for the Tri Valley Haven, who provided support for victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse:  it was common knowledge shared by administrators and executives, that violent abusers did not seek ways to manage their anger; they used the mandatory anger management classes to learn how not to get caught in the future.  This common knowledge never resulted in changing or terminating the mandatory classes though; everyone just continued to meet the mandatory requirements.  When do results get factored in?

 

3.      I pray it results in a closer, more comprehensive look and examination of our death penalty.  I believe, strongly, completely that there are crimes which warrant a temporary removal from society; crimes which warrant a permanent removal from society; and crimes which warrant a removal from our planet; as in the death penalty.

 

.  I speak for myself here:  I do believe Ryan’s actions warrant the death penalty

When you sadistically, brutally, violently torture a defenseless person; you forfeit your right to share the planet with the rest of us.  You do not get tax-payer funded, free room and board; three meals a day; free health and dental, air conditioning, recreation, laundry services and ‘programs’  

If the public at large, had access to Ryan’s trial:  there would be a mass uprising demanding the audits I speak of here.  Ryan, callously, went on to dating websites, and to party with friends in the direct aftermath of sadistically, brutally, torturing his mother  -to her death.   Cynthia is the one who got the death penalty when they released Ryan from jail despite his violent track record.  Whatever laws currently on our books that allowed this; need to be changed. 

 

4.      I pray it helps us all return to a PUBLIC SAFETY FIRST & FOREMOST justice system.  We have spent decades experimenting with soft on crime policies; and the results are in:  soft on crime directly results in hard on innocent citizens.  We have spent decades spending uncalculatable tax payer dollars for ‘programs’ which help, coddle, enable and empower criminals; instead of investing in and supporting and rewarding hard-working, tax-paying, law abiding, contributors.

 

5.       I pray this trial results in a larger public revisit of what jails and prisons are; and are not.

I believe we need to return to the fundamentals:  JAILS are for criminals; a consequence of criminal behavior.  No one should want to go to Jail; it is an awful place for good reason.  JAILS & PRISONS are not ‘second chance schools.’   JAILS & PRISONS are not rehabilitation facilities.   JAILS & PRISONS are not, criminals trade their freedoms for free air-conditioned shelter, 3 meals a day, gym/recreation, laundry, health care, tv, libraries, internet access..   - basketball.

 

6.      I pray this trial results in audits of ‘rehab’ facilities.  There are private, government and faith-based rehabilitation facilities all around the United States.  They have been operating for years..   Some of them are succeeding; and some are sucking up tax payer dollars without having to prove results.

I pray we take a much closer look at each and every ‘rehab’  and double down on successes and close the others.

 

I recognize there are people who can and do turn their lives around; people who can and will learn from their mistakes and become contributors for good.

We have enough data, enough years, enough examples that the profiles of criminals who can and will turn their lives around..  vs the ones who will only go out and claim more victims and commit more crimes.   -I believe we have accumulated more than enough data that we should be able to better, more accurately discern one from the other.  

Ryan is a clear example of a sadistic criminal with a track record of violence which dictated that he should have never been released back into society; and certainly should not have been the recipient of an anger management diploma.

I pray for a closer, more comprehensive look at our justice system; and that we make the adjustments that would result in sadistic violent criminals either remaining behind bars; or being removed from the planet via the death penalty.

I pray for public safety to be paramount; and that we base all decisions, and create all laws around public safety as our highest value.

 

Selah & amen,

Sandra Mickanen, wife to Robert Mickanen, Cynthia’s brother

****  GOD BLESS ELVA WILSON for reading my impact statement at court on my behalf!

and GOD BLESS TOM WILSON for writing & sharing his: 

"Ryan Garner Impact Statement

12-08-2025

Good morning. I’d like to begin by expressing my immense gratitude to the County of Santa Clara, District Attorney’s Office for their expert prosecution of Cynthia Mykkanen’s murder. In addition, I would like to thank everyone involved in obtaining Ryan Garner’s first-degree murder verdict, including: the arresting officers, the investigators, the crime scene and crime lab analysts, the medical examiner, the prosecutors, the jurors and the court. It must have been extremely difficult for everybody involved in the case, due to the level of horror and heinousness of this crime. In spite of the difficulty, however, and because of their tireless work, justice prevailed. And for this, Cynthia’s family, friends and community are eternally grateful.

I attended the entire trial in support of my good friends Robert and Sandra Mickanen. The Mickanen family and all of Cynthia’s friends and co-workers experienced a tremendous loss. And while any loss of a loved one is hard, it’s harder still because of the way she was killed. It is beyond comprehension how anyone could torture and beat-to-death another person, let alone do this to one’s own mother. And, the callousness of the Ryan’s behavior after leaving his mother at the hospital is equally difficult to fathom. In addition, his callous behavior carried through to the courtroom as well, as Ryan appeared completely disengaged the entire trial, showing no emotion or remorse for his crime.

My only hope now is that Ryan Garner be removed from society for the rest of his life. It is evident that he is, in kind terms, a broken person, but, what caused him to commit the murder of his mother, is so dangerous, he can never be trusted to walk among the general population again. 

In less kind words, Ryan Garner is a vicious, evil, person; incapable of human emotion, let alone empathy, and as evidenced in this trial, his only purpose in life is to take from others. Torturing and taking the life of the very person who gave him life, makes him, in my opinion, the most despicable person I have ever set eyes on. My only hope is that I never have to set eyes on him again.

Thank you

****

posted by SANDRA MICKANEN @ 12:11 PM