Heather Mack, convicted in Bali of killing mom and stuffing body in suitcase, pleads guilty in US

CHICAGO — An American woman accused of helping to kill her mother and stuffing her body in a suitcase during a luxury vacation to Bali nine years ago changed her plea to guilty in Chicago federal court on Friday. The plea agreement calls for a sentence of no more than 28 years, though Kennelly told Mack he hasn’t yet decided whether to accept that sentencing cap. A key issue that wasn’t decided in talks between prosecutors and the defense prior to Friday’s hearing was whether the years Mack spent in prison in Indonesia for a 2015 conviction of being an accessory to Wiese-Mack’s murder would be subtracted from whatever U.S. sentence is imposed by Kennelly. Mack’s lawyer, Michael Leonard, told reporters after the hearing that his client’s decision to plead guilty was motivated in part by wanting to avoid a sentence of life in prison — something that would be off the table under the plea deal, if the judge formally OKs it. In arguing for leniency at sentencing, Leonard said he would present evidence that Mack has matured and that she was “a fantastic mother” to her and Schaefer’s daughter, who she gave birth to in Indonesia after her arrest.