Hadiya, 15, performed at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration one week before Mickiael Ward shot her in Chicago after mistaking the group she was with for members of a rival gang. Obama mentioned her during his State of the Union address weeks later and hosted her parents at that event, and first lady Michelle Obama attended her funeral.

On Monday, Judge Nicholas Ford of Cook County Circuit Court described Hadiya’s murder as “highly premeditated” and accused Ward, 24, of showing little remorse in court.

“He placed blame on almost any source you can imagine, other than his own conduct,” Ford said after Ward addressed the court Monday. “It’s not required that he walk in here and admit to committing the crime, but what you will have noticed in his remarks was a complete absence of empathy.”

In rambling remarks Monday, Ward claimed he was innocent and faulted the authorities for failing to collect enough evidence.

“Why is it that I’m the only person sitting here being found guilty for something that I know for a fact that I know I didn’t do?” he said.

In August, a jury convicted Ward and another man, Kenneth Williams, of murder in connection with Hadiya’s death. Williams, who was accused of driving a getaway car, has not yet been sentenced, according to The Chicago Tribune.

Hadiya’s mother, Cleopatra Cowley, urged Ford on Monday to apply the “maximum” penalty allowed by law, explaining that her daughter’s murder had changed her, her son and her husband.

“Hadiya is serving a death sentence handed down by Mickiael Ward, and all the family is doing life as a result,” she said in a victim impact statement, which she read aloud to the court.

Cowley described Hadiya as an avid reader who particularly enjoyed vampire stories.

“She was beautiful in every way, physically and mentally,” Cowley said. “Her habits were beautiful; her heart was beautiful.”

Hadiya was a member of her school’s majorette team and marched in Obama’s inaugural parade in Washington in January 2013. About a week later, she was back in Chicago when she was shot as she huddled with friends to avoid the rain in a park not far from the Obamas’ South Side home.

Obama invited Cowley and her husband, Nathaniel Pendleton Sr., to attend the State of the Union address, where he mentioned Hadiya by name and urged lawmakers to take action to combat gun violence.

“She loved Fig Newtons and lip gloss,” he said. “She was a majorette. She was so good to her friends they all thought they were her best friend.”

Two years later, Michelle Obama delivered a commencement address to Hadiya’s classmates at King College Prep High School.

“I know you all can live your life with the same determination and joy that Hadiya lived her life,” Michelle Obama said at the time. “I know you all can dig deep and keep on fighting to fulfill your own dreams.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.