Heather Mack from Chicago, Ill., stands inside a cell earlier than a trial in Bali, Indonesia, on March 11, 2015. Mack, who pleaded responsible to serving to kill her personal mom and stuffing the physique in a suitcase throughout a luxurious trip in Bali, was sentenced by a federal choose, Wednesday to 26 years in jail.

Firdia Lisnawati/AP

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Firdia Lisnawati/AP

Heather Mack from Chicago, Ill., stands inside a cell earlier than a trial in Bali, Indonesia, on March 11, 2015. Mack, who pleaded responsible to serving to kill her personal mom and stuffing the physique in a suitcase throughout a luxurious trip in Bali, was sentenced by a federal choose, Wednesday to 26 years in jail.

Firdia Lisnawati/AP

CHICAGO — An American lady who pleaded responsible to helping kill her own mother and stuffing the physique in a suitcase throughout a luxurious trip in Bali was sentenced Wednesday in Chicago to 26 years in jail.

Federal prosecutors had beneficial a 28-year jail sentence for Heather Mack for conspiring along with her boyfriend to kill Sheila von Wiese-Mack in 2014.

Mack’s legal professional Michael Leonard stated he expects Mack, 28, shall be locked up for roughly 20 years together with good habits credit accessible to all federal prisoners. His estimate additionally accounts for the choose giving Mack credit score for the two-plus years she spent in custody in Chicago after finishing a jail time period in Indonesia. She was deported to the U.S. in 2021.

Before her sentence was learn, Mack apologized to her mom’s brother and sister by way of tears.

“It breaks my heart hearing you cry,” she instructed Debbi Curran, her aunt and Wiese-Mack’s sister, who had audibly sobbed as her daughter learn a sufferer affect assertion on Curran’s behalf.

“There’s no excuse for trying to harm her,” Mack stated. “I miss and love my mother.”

The authorities additionally wished Mack to get 5 years of supervised launch, a $250,000 positive and restitution of $262,708. In a submitting final week, prosecutors stated the beneficial sentence was “warranted and sufficient, but not greater than necessary to serve a just and appropriate punishment for Mack’s heinous crime.”

The sentencing listening to started Wednesday morning with testimony from Bill Wiese, Wiese-Mack’s brother and Mack’s uncle. He requested Judge Matthew Kennelly to impose the utmost sentence doable, saying Mack has by no means proven regret.

“If it were up to me, Heather would spend the rest of her life behind bars,” Wiese stated.

Mack, who wore an orange jumpsuit, orange slip-on footwear and glasses, remained principally emotionless as her uncle spoke, often attendees and giving small smiles to some.

Mack pleaded responsible final June to at least one depend of conspiring to kill von Wiese-Mack along with her then-boyfriend to realize entry to a $1.5 million belief fund. Prosecutors have stated Mack, then 18 and pregnant, coated her mom’s mouth whereas Tommy Schaefer bludgeoned Wiese-Mack with a fruit bowl in a lodge room.

Prosecutors stated the killing had been deliberate for months

Prosecutors stated Mack and Schaefer had deliberate the killing for months, and that video proof confirmed the couple making an attempt to get the small suitcase containing Wiese-Mack’s physique into an Indonesian taxicab.

“This was a brutal, premeditated crime,” Kennelly stated earlier than sentencing Mack. He additionally ordered her to pay $262,708 in restitution and a $50,000 positive.

Mack, who lived along with her mom in suburban Chicago’s Oak Park, served seven years of her 10-year Indonesian sentence for her 2015 conviction of being an adjunct to Wiese-Mack’s homicide.

Mack was deported in 2021 and her then-6-year-old daughter was along with her when she was arrested on arrival at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The lady was positioned with a relative after a custody combat.

Mack’s attorneys had sought a 15-year jail time period, however with credit score for her seven years within the Indonesian jail.

Schaefer was convicted of homicide and he’s serving an 18-year sentence in Indonesia. He is charged in the identical U.S. indictment. His mom, Kia Walker, was within the courtroom Wednesday for Mack’s sentencing.