Melissa Huckaby Gets Life in Prison - Updated

(Stockton, California) Yesterday, 29-year-old former Sunday school teacher Melissa Huckaby was sentenced for the rape and murder of eight-year-old Sandra Cantu.

In court, a sobbing Huckaby apologized to Sandra's family, saying: "I should not have taken her from you."

"I owe you an explanation. But I still cannot understand why I did what I did," she said.

She was sentenced to life without parole.

Many of the details of the grisly crime have previously been kept from the public, sealed under a judge's gag order. The judge lifted that order and the prosecutor revealed for the first time how Sandra was killed.

Documents related to the crimes are of concern to the family of the victim and it's reported that the Cantu family is considering an appeal of the judge's ruling. Sandra Cantu had younger siblings who might be traumatized by pictures of the crime scene showing up on the Internet.

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Melissa Huckaby Guilty in Sandra Cantu Case - Updated
[Previous 5/10/10 post]
(Stockton, California) Former Sunday school teacher Melissa Huckaby, 29, has pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, the daughter of a neighbor.

As part of a deal with prosecutors, all other charges -- including two involving rape and lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14 -- were dropped, according to court spokeswoman Sharon Morris.

The surprise plea came during what was scheduled to be a routine pretrial hearing Monday morning. The initial charges in the grand jury indictment last year would have made her eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Her trial had been set to begin in October.

Morris said Huckaby now faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison without the possibility of parole when she's sentenced June 14.

Authorities say Huckaby killed Sandra Cantu, a playmate of her young daughter, in March 2009. A search for the girl ended after 10 days when her body was found stuffed in a black suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond a few miles from the Tracy mobile home park where both the child and the defendant lived.

Sad case.

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Sandra Cantu Case
[Previous 9/12/09 post]
(Stockton, California) San Joaquin County prosecutors will seek the death penalty for 28-year-old Melissa Huckaby in the murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.

A criminal grand jury indicted Huckaby -- whose daughter was a playmate of Sandra's -- on a murder charge with three enhancements: kidnapping, rape with a foreign instrument, and lewd and lascivious acts on a child. A second count charges Huckaby with a sex crime with a child 10 years or younger.

Cantu disappeared on March 27, 2009, and was found 10 days later stuffed in a suitcase in a pond close to her home.

I suspect that the prosecution wants to incentivise Huckaby to accept a plea deal for life in prison.