Indonesian Prosecutors Seek Up to 18-Year Term for US Couple

Heather Mack and Tommy Schaefer are accused of killing Mack's mother and putting her body in a suitcase

Indonesian prosecutors want an American teen and her boyfriend to be sentenced to 15 and 18 years, respectively, if the two are convicted of murdering the woman's mother while vacationing on the resort island of Bali.

Tommy Schaefer, 21, and Heather Mack, 19, both of Chicago, are being tried separately by Denpasar District Court on a charge of premeditated murder for the death of Sheila von Wiese-Mack at a hotel last August.

Chief prosecutor Eddy Arta Wijaya asked the judges on Tuesday to declare the defendants guilty and to sentence Schaefer to 18 years and Mack to 15 years. Under Indonesian laws, Mack and Schaefer could have faced a possible death penalty.

Mack appeared at court with her newborn baby. Published reports last week indicated the baby, Stella, has been in a clinic being treated for jaundice.

Their lawyers will respond to the prosecution's case next week.

Mack has pinned her mother's death on Schaefer. She testified earlier this month that Schaefer, 21, attacked von Wiese-Mack after the mother threatened the life of the then-unborn child.

Schaefer, in his trial, admitted he struck von Wiese-Mack with a metal bowl but only after he said she tried to strangle him.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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