Heather Mack, the Chicago teen accused of co-murdering her mother while on vacation in Bali, claims that her Indonesian defense attorney hasn’t been fully paid out from her trust fund in line with a Chicago court’s ruling.
Indonesian prosecutors allege that Mack, 19, assisted her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, back in August 2014 to murder Mack’s mother, Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack at the Bali St. Regis where they were staying at the time. The couple allegedly stuffed von Wiese-Mack’s body into a suitcase and tried to flee the scene, but were arrested.
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Mack contacted the newspaper, saying she felt obligated to get in touch with her hometown media and share her story that her attorney Aly Soenardi has only received the first of three USD50,000 installments from her USD1.56 million trust fund. Cook Country Judge Neil Cohen had ordered the release of those funds on January 20.
According to the Tribune, Mack blames the three Chicago-area attorneys working on her case and assisting her with trust issues and says she wants to have them fired from her case. But that may just be talk since the Tribune reports that the three have no knowledge of such plans.
Mack says by not handing over the money, the attorneys are “denying me a fair chance of defending myself.”
Mack still maintains her innocence and even says she misses her mom.
“I loved my mom with all my heart and miss her every day,” said Mack, who is pregnant and due in April.
If convicted of premeditated murder, Mack could get the maximum sentence: the death penalty. She says she’s “petrified,” but more so for her unborn baby’s sake.
Photo by AFP
