Despite the defense’s attempts to get the trial annulled for the couple allegedly involved in the “Bali suitcase murder,” an Indonesian court ruled yesterday that the trial would proceed.
Heather Mack, 19, and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, stand trial for allegedly murdering Mack’s mother, Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, in August 2014. Prosecutors allege that the couple murdered von Wiese-Mack in her suite at the St. Regis before stuffing her into a suitcase and attempting to flee the scene.
The defense had been trying to annul the trial, saying that the indictment submitted by prosecutors had inaccuracies, by after yesterday’s decision, hearings will resume tomorrow at Denpasar District Court, reports the AP.
“The indictment is fully qualified both formally and materially according to the law,” said presiding judge Made Suweda. as quoted in an AP report. “Therefore, the defense objections are rejected.”
Seven-month pregnant Mack and Schaefer have separate trials with the same judges and prosecutors. They are facing charges of premeditated murder, which if convicted, could land them in front of the firing squad.
The so-called “inaccuracies” that the couple’s legal team argued against included the use of evidence from the couple’s cell phone conversations. They argued that cell phone communication can be manipulated. The cell phone conversations are a pretty big part of the case, since prosecutors allege that the couple texted about their initial plane to stage what would look like von Wiese-Mack’s suicide on the beach.
Photo by AFP
