Van der Sloot Pleads Guilty in Death of Peruvian Woman; Lawyer Blames Holloway Arrest Trauma
Joran van der Sloot pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the murder of a Peruvian woman, as his lawyer blamed the crime on his client’s prior unjustified arrest for the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba.
Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to “qualified murder” and told the court he was sorry for what happened. His lawyer, Jose Luis Jimenez, said van der Sloot was affected by post traumatic stress disorder caused by his father’s death and his treatment in the Holloway case. CNN, Fox News and the New York Post have stories on the proceedings.
Jimenez said van der Sloot did not harm Holloway and there is no existing evidence against him. Yet the media made him out to be “a monster.” Though he was arrested in the Holloway case, van der Sloot was never formally charged in her disappearance.
Van der Sloot will be sentenced in the murder of Peruvian woman Stephany Flores on Friday. Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year sentence. Flores was killed exactly five years after the disappearance of Holloway. Van der Sloot has said he killed her in a rage after she accessed Holloway files on his computer.
Prior coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Onetime Suspect in Unsolved Aruba Disappearance of Natalee Holloway is Charged With Murder in Peru”
ABAJournal.com: “Suspect in High-Profile Holloway Case Sues Lawyer Who Represented Him in Peru Murder”
