Prosecutors won't seek life in prison for Joran Van der Sloot

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

Joran van der Sloot over photos of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway (left), and Stephany Flores.

/ CBS/AP

(CBS/WIAT) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Peruvian prosecutors will seek a 30-year-sentence in the murder trial of Joran Van der Sloot, accused of killing a 21-year-old student, rather than pursue a life sentence, the judiciary said Tuesday.

Van der Sloot has confessed to killing Stephany Flores who he met at a poker tournament. Her body was found in van der Sloot's Lima hotel room five years to the day of Natalee Holloway's disappearance on a graduation trip to Aruba. Van der Sloot was arrested during the Holloway investigation but never charged.

In September, Flores family had asked that Van der Sloot's charges be upgraded to a more stringent charge, carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison, reports CNN.

The panel, however, ruled in favor of prosecutors' original charges of murder and robbery.

The charge of "robbery with murder" would have carried a possible life sentence, while the original charges of "murder followed by robbery" carry only a 30 year maximum sentence, reports CBS affiliate WIAT.

According to Reuters, van der Sloot will be eligible for parole after serving only 10 years.

Pablo Sánchez Velarde,the public prosecutor in the Peruvian capital Lima characterized the original charges as 'clear and coherent', WIAT reports.

Van der Sloot told investigators in Peru that he killed Stephany Flores after she found material about Natalee on a laptop in his hotel room, WIAT reports. He's claiming the equivalent of a crime of passion. Police investigators say he killed and robbed her because he was broke and desperate.

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by dlmills November 26, 2011 8:00 PM EST: This makes me sick...when is he ever going to meet justice? In ten years when he gets out, he'll move to another country and murder a few more young girls.; Reply to this comment


by AMH2730 November 26, 2011 7:27 PM EST: Once again, the justice system fails. For as chilling and unremorseful as his confession was, I cannot believe prosecutors don't want to give him life, just to keep him away from the rest of society. He has gotten the message twice that he will have few, or no, consequences for his actions. When he gets out, his crimes are going to escalate in their brutality, and the Peruvian prosecutors who handled this case will have blood on their hands.; Reply to this comment


by moonflower2010 November 25, 2011 10:04 AM EST: 2 dead girls and JVS. he'll kill again.; Reply to this comment


by Harden_Tar November 24, 2011 1:42 PM EST: How many times do we see killers set free in this country after serving 10 years or even less? Let's just be happy this psycho is going in the slammer.; Reply to this comment


by esq777 November 24, 2011 12:53 PM EST: I would have assumed Peru would be an execute first, ask questions later kind of place. Guess not.; Reply to this comment


by Michael_Atlanta November 23, 2011 11:07 PM EST: Obviously Joran is a complete sociopath. I don't believe I would want to spend one day in a Peruvian prison, much more ten to thirty years. I am not for capital punishment, but I am to think I would rather drink the Kool-Aid on this one.; Reply to this comment