BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - Neither Joran van der Sloot nor his lawyer showed up for a preliminary hearing in Lima, Peru Monday but the family of his victim was there front and center demanding a tougher charge and life behind bars.
Van der Sloot has already admitted he killed 21 year old Stephany Flores. He claims it happened in a fit of rage after she found material about Natalee Holloway on his laptop. His defense says that adds up to "simple homicide" (roughly equivalent to a manslaughter charge here) and they'll plead guilty to a sentence of 6-20 years.
Not nearly enough says the Flores family! And they're not much happier with prosecutors than they are with van der Sloot.
A police investigation of van der Sloot's computer show the Natalee information was accessed the day before Stephany died. They're asking for a 30 year sentence.
Both the accused and the victim's family disagree with the indictment proposed by prosecutor Miriam Riveros Castellares. She is asking the panel to indict Van der Sloot on charges of qualified murder and simple robbery, which carry 28-year and 2-year sentences. He would also make a restitution payment of $73,000 to the victim's family.
The Flores family attorney is insisting prosecutors change the charge to an aggravated murder charge that would carry a life sentence.
The panel has 15 days to decide on the request from the Flores family for a new indictment. If a decision is made not to return the indictment to the prosecutor's office, a date will be set for Van der Sloot to stand trial on murder and theft charges, the court said.
The danger there is that if van der Sloot is not brought to trial by December, he could be set free. Most observers in Peru consider this unlikely, but the entire van der Sloot saga has been filled with bizarre and unlikely occurrences.
Van der Sloot is still considered the prime suspect in the disappearance of Mountain Brook teen Natalee Holloway. She vanished on a graduation trip to Aruba in 2005...last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot.
Stephany Flores corpse was found in van der Sloot's Lima hotel room five years to the day of Natalee's disappearance.
Van der Sloot is also under a federal indictment for extortion and wire fraud brought by a grand jury here in Birmingham. The FBI says he took money from the Holloway family in exchange for information about Natalee's fate. The indictment says he took the money but never gave any information.
Part of the prosecution case in Peru is that van der Sloot subsequently lost that money playing poker and was broke and desperate when he met Stephany Flores at a poker tournament in a Lima casino.
