"We are, of course, deeply saddened and deeply troubled by what we heard today," said her mother, Cindy, 64, a homemaker and musician. "The state has worked extremely hard to make sure the full truth about my daughter is not exposed, and those responsible for killing her are not accountable."
Her husband, Craig, 65, held the microphone for his wife, whose voice wavered as she read a letter written by her daughter to a Palestinian friend before her death.
"Life is very difficult. Human beings can be kind, brave and strong, even in the most difficult of circumstances," the letter said. "Thank you for existing, for showing how good people can be, despite great hardship."
The family sought a symbolic $1 judgment, in addition to the $200,000 they say they have spent on legal expenses over the years.
The trial stretched over 15 hearings and heard testimony from 23 witnesses. None was more important than the driver, who has never been publicly identified. The family's hopes of confronting him face to face were dashed when the man was permitted to testify from behind a curtain.
The driver has always said he did not see Corrie, and the military investigation ruled the death accidental. He was operating a heavily armored bulldozer with small slits for vision, protection against Palestinian explosives and firebombs.
Prosecutors also argued the young woman knowingly entered a closed military zone and area of violent conflict.
Corrie belonged to the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, whose activists enter conflict zones and try to interfere with activities of Israel's military in the West Bank and Gaza, territories the Palestinians claim for their state.
Several members have been killed or maimed in confrontations with the military, which accuses them of behaving recklessly in dangerous, chaotic situations, often in areas where civilians were barred.
Friends who were with her have said they believed the Caterpillar D9 bulldozer they were blocking was about to demolish the nearby home of a Palestinian family that Corrie was living with at the time.
