Van der Sloot needs more time to decide plea, attorney says
Joran van der Sloot was arrested in June 2010 in Stephany Flores' death.
January 6th, 2012
11:27 AM ET

Van der Sloot needs more time to decide plea, attorney says

[Updated, 11:27 a.m. ET] Joran van der Sloot's attorney, who earlier said his client was going to plead guilty to all charges in connection with the death of a Peruvian woman, has asked for a recess in his client's murder trial to give him more time to reflect on what plea he will put forth.

When asked for a plea by the magistrates, van der Sloot said he wanted to give a "sincere confession" - a type of guilty plea - but did not agree with all of the charges against him. When the judge asked for clarification, he said he needed more time to decide his plea.

[Initial post, 8:54 a.m. ET] In a last-minute defense strategy change, Joran van der Sloot is expected to plead guilty to all the charges against him in connection with the killing of a Peruvian woman, his lawyer told CNN Friday.

The original plan going into the trial, which was set to begin Friday, was to admit to killing 21-year-old Stephany Flores, but to fight more stringent charges that could land him more time in prison, attorney Luis Jimenez said.

Jimenez said the intention of the new strategy is to give a "sincere confession," which under Peruvian law can qualify him for a more lenient sentence.

If van der Sloot goes forward with this approach, he could be sentenced as early as next week.

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Filed under: Courts • Crime • Joran van der Sloot • Justice • Peru
soundoff (27 Responses)
  1. banasy©

    He probably wants to change just how "sincere" he's going to sound...

    January 6, 2012 at 11:58 am | Report abuse |
  2. Scottish Mama

    Hey Banasy on our way to a New year. Whew! I heard the world is ending as we know it this Dec. 21, 2012. I guess it will not matter who we vote in office.lol
    He has always sounded guilty. Now they just have him on video. If his mother was any better she would ask him where he put Natalee Holoway.

    January 6, 2012 at 12:03 pm | Report abuse |
  3. banasy©

    Scottish Mama:
    We're not going anywhere one December 21st.
    You know it's one more thing that people who dig this sort of thing got wrong. Remember Y2K?

    Van der Sloot is a slime ball. Allegedly, lol.
    Wouldn't want to cast aspersions on his good name now, would we?

    January 6, 2012 at 12:20 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Hugh Jass©

    Van der sloot is a bad person.

    January 6, 2012 at 12:21 pm | Report abuse |
  5. banasy©

    @Hugh:
    Understated. I like that.

    January 6, 2012 at 12:36 pm | Report abuse |
  6. TORI

    Now he "needs more time" to try to add more lies on to the initial one. @Scottish mama,his mother should disown him.@banasy,you are right we are all going to be here after Dec21.

    January 6, 2012 at 2:31 pm | Report abuse |
  7. ohlawdsisiinheaven

    lol, I feel like this guy just goes on a merry go round of vests but always manages to get out of this.

    Anyway, for some weird strange f up reason, a friend of a friend of a friend of mine knows van der sloot on my facebook, he told me he doesnt care–he's always been a nihilist apparently and slightly psychopathic, he is in a 'fvck it mood' all the time ,and that has never changed even when at wone point he thou ght he was going to die (like this was apparently away back)...so, he thinks its the same now, he doesnt really care about spending 35 years in prison because he doesnt value human life.

    So he's bored because to him this is all a joke, all of life is a joke.

    January 6, 2012 at 3:26 pm | Report abuse |
    • ohlawdsisiinheaven

      so he was either displaying this at the hearing /and was bored. or he was just bored, thats what he told me.

      January 6, 2012 at 3:29 pm | Report abuse |
    • Kay

      Slightly psychopathic? I would say very sociopathic.

      January 6, 2012 at 6:07 pm | Report abuse |
  8. ohlawdsisiinheaven

    like he was showing off and bored, or just bored. He thinks it was both.

    January 6, 2012 at 3:34 pm | Report abuse |
  9. federale

    We got him..he's gonna rot here no matter what he says. His daddy can no longer protect this psychopath. He's toast or rice and beans.

    January 6, 2012 at 7:59 pm | Report abuse |
  10. Ed

    All this guy has ever done is play games. He's played games with the authorities, the media and the families. Anything he does from now on won't be any different.

    I'm totally against the death penalty, but every once in a while I wish someone could just get wiped off the planet. This is one of those times....

    January 7, 2012 at 8:32 am | Report abuse |
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