A US woman who pleaded guilty to helping kill her mother and stuffing the body in a suitcase during a luxury vacation in Bali 10 years ago has been sentenced in Chicago to 26 years in prison.
Key points:
- Heather Mack will spend at least 20 years in a US jail after already serving time in Indonesia
- She was convicted for helping her then-boyfriend Tommy Shaefer kill her own mother
- The couple's daughter was recently told the 'difficult truth' about her parents
Heather Mack, 28, was convicted in Indonesia in 2015 for being an accessory to the murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, with her then-boyfriend, in a bid to gain access to a $US1.5 million ($2.3 million) trust fund.
Prosecutors in a Chicago federal court had previously said Mack, who was then 18 and pregnant, covered her mother's mouth while Tommy Schaefer bludgeoned Wiese-Mack with a fruit bowl in a hotel room in Bali.
Mack's attorney Michael Leonard said he expects Mack will be locked up for roughly 20 years, taking into account good behaviour credits available to all federal prisoners.
His estimate also accounts for the judge giving Mack credit for the two-plus years she spent in custody in Chicago after completing a jail term in Indonesia.
She was deported to the US in 2021.
Before her sentence was read on Wednesday (local time), Mack apologised to her mother's siblings through tears.
"It breaks my heart, hearing you cry," she told Debbi Curran, her aunt and Wiese-Mack's sister, who had audibly sobbed as her daughter read a victim impact statement on Ms Curran's behalf.
"There's no excuse for trying to harm her," Mack said. "I miss and love my mother."
The government also wanted Mack to get five years of supervised release, a $US250,000 ($380,000) fine and restitution of $US262,708.
In a filing last week, prosecutors said the recommended sentence of 28 years in prison was "warranted and sufficient, but not greater than necessary to serve a just and appropriate punishment for Mack's heinous crime".
The sentencing hearing began Wednesday morning with testimony from Bill Wiese, Wiese-Mack's brother and Mack's uncle.
He asked Judge Matthew Kennelly to impose the maximum sentence possible, saying Mack had never shown remorse.
"If it were up to me, Heather would spend the rest of her life behind bars," Mr Wiese said.
He later said Mack's courtroom apology was the first time he had heard her say she was sorry.
Mack remained mostly impassive as her uncle spoke, occasionally looking at attendees and giving small smiles to some.
Prosecutors said Mack and Schaefer had planned the killing for months, and that video evidence showed the couple trying to get the small suitcase containing Wiese-Mack's body into an Indonesian taxi cab.
"This was a brutal, premeditated crime," Judge Kennelly said before sentencing Mack.
He also ordered her to pay $US262,708 in restitution and a $US50,000 fine.
Mack's daughter finds out 'difficult truth'
Mack, who had lived with her mother in suburban Chicago's Oak Park, served seven years of her 10-year Indonesian sentence for her 2015 conviction of being an accessory to Wiese-Mack's murder.
Mack was deported in 2021 and her then-six-year-old daughter was with her when she was arrested on arrival at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
The girl was placed with a relative after a custody fight.
Another relative read a statement on behalf of the girl's guardian, who said she recently chose to tell the child the "difficult truth" about her parents, then held her as she cried.
Now she "does not want to speak to her mother" or be raised by her, the statement said, adding that she is "amazing" and "empathetic" in spite of — not because of — Mack.
Mack said in her statement that she wants to be the best mother possible and that being a mother has helped her to grow.
"I understand my mom in a way I didn't before," Mack said.
Mack's lawyers had sought a 15-year prison term, but with credit for her seven years in the Indonesian prison.
Schaefer was convicted of murder and he is serving an 18-year sentence in Indonesia. He is charged in the same US indictment.
His mother, Kia Walker, was in the courtroom for Mack's sentencing on Wednesday.
Mr Wiese, standing with his wife, sister and another niece, told reporters after the sentencing that "justice was served."
AP