Missouri woman wants to undo her teenage guilty plea in 2009 slaying of 9-year-old neighbour | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Missouri woman wants to undo her teenage guilty plea in 2009 slaying of 9-year-old neighbour

FILE - This Feb. 8, 2012 photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows Alyssa Bustamante, who was sentenced to life in prison for the October 2009 slaying of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten in St. Martins, a small town just west of Jefferson City, Mo. Bustamante, who described killing her neighbor girl as an "ahmazing" thrill, was to appear in court Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014 to argue that her guilty plea should be set aside because it was made under the threat of a mandatory life prison sentence. (AP Photo/Missouri Department of Corrections, File)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A Missouri woman who wrote that killing a young neighbour was "pretty enjoyable" now wants a judge to overturn her guilty plea.

Alyssa Bustamante was to appear in court Thursday for a hearing on whether to set aside her plea in the 2009 slaying of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten. Bustamante was 15 at the time. She wrote in her diary that killing was "ahmazing" and "pretty enjoyable."

She initially faced a first-degree murder charge, punishable by a mandatory life sentence without parole. Bustamante pleaded guilty in 2012 to second-degree murder. She was sentenced to life with the chance of parole.

The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that juveniles cannot face mandatory life sentences.

Bustamante says she would not have pleaded guilty without the threat of mandatory life imprisonment.

News from © The Associated Press, 2014
The Associated Press

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