Indonesian Prosecutors Seek to Spare Heather Mack from Firing Squad for Mom's Murder

Indonesian prosecutors Tuesday sought to spare the former Oak Parkers now on trial for the bludgeoning death of a widowed socialite the prospect of death by firing squad, instead asking the judges to consider 15-year and 18-year prison sentences.

Heather Mack, 19, and Tommy Schaefer, 21, killed Sheila von Wiese-Mack during an argument at a posh resort hotel in Bali where von Wiese-Mack was vacationing with her daughter, according to prosecutors, who claim a pregnant Heather and boyfriend Tommy plotted her demise.

“The defendant has committed sadistic acts to her own mother,” chief prosecutor Eddy Arta Wijaya said. “However, we’ve decided to be lenient because she repeatedly expressed remorse and has a newborn baby.”

Schaefer claims he beat the 62-year-old von Wiese-Mack to death with a metal bowl after she hurled racial insults at him and tried to choke him over the unborn baby he and Heather had conceived. The baby, named Stella, was born earlier this month. Heather Mack sat in court with the baby nestled in her arms Tuesday. Schaefer cried.
Meanwhile, Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s sister, Debbi Curran, told the Chicago Tribune she’s outraged at the prosecution’s request.

“The recommended sentence is a complete and total injustice for a premeditated murder charge,” the St. Louis woman told the Tribune. “The evidence of premeditated murder is overwhelming. Our beloved Sheila was brutally murdered.”

Her bloodied, dead body was stuffed in a suitcase and then left in a taxicab as Schaefer and Mack tried to escape.

“We pray for justice for her,” Curran said.

The prosecution rested its case Tuesday with a request that the judges find the couple guilty and spare them death. Lawyers for Schaefer and Mack will respond to the prosecution’s case next week.

Outside the courtroom after Tuesday’s proceedings, Mack told reporters she and Schaefer plan to wed this year. News.com.au reports that Heather Mack wears an orange rubber band around her finger, symbolic of an engagement ring. He wears a green rubber band.

» ALSO ON PATCH

• Illinois Teens Who Posted Their Sex Tape on Twitter Face Porn Charges

• Kids Shared Smelly, Squalid ‘Hoarder House’ with 331 Chinchillas

• ’He’s Still Alive.’ Firefighters Revive Dog Rescued from House Fire

Schaefer’s mother, Kia Walker, was also in court and at times held her granddaughter. The baby stays with Heather Mack in her prison cell. She breastfeeds the baby behind bars. News photographers can get close to the holding cells were Mack and Schaefer are kept during court proceedings and take pictures of the couple and the baby.

For the sake of the baby, Mack told reporters, she hopes the judges spare her life.

“I hope it won’t be the death penalty,” said Mack, who has a $1.5 million trust fund, which she’s been allowed to tap into to pay for her defense.

The judges are free to impose a sentence less than or greater than the prosecution’s request.

MORE ON THE BALI MURDER of SHEILA VON WIESE-MACK

• Confessions Made in Bali Resort Murder of Oak Park Woman: Police

• Racial Slur Said to be Motive in Oak Park Woman’s Murder

• Von Wiese-Mack’s Will Filed; Daughter Kept in Solitary Confinement

• Teen Jailed in Bali is Pregnant, Claims She’s Being Sexually Assaulted and Fed KFC

• Teen Accused of Mom’s Murder in Bali Not a ‘Crazy, Cold-Blooded Killer,’ Says Lawyer

• Slain Mother’s Relationship with Daughter Said to be Volatile

• Illinois Woman Killed at Posh Bali Resort and Stuffed into a Suitcase