After filing a lawsuit to release cash from the trust fund her mother set up for her, Heather Mack of the “Bali suitcase murder” is now authorized to use that money in her criminal defense for allegedly killing her mother.
However, a condition of that trust fund withdrawal is that her baby’s daddy (Mack is seven months pregnant) and alleged co-conspirator, Tommy Schaefer is not afforded a dime.
Mack, 19, and Schaefer, 21, have become infamous inmates in Bali’s Kerobokan Prison after the pair was accused of brutally murdering Mack’s mother, Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack, then allegedly stuffing her bloody remains into a suitcase at the elite St. Regis resort in Nusa Dua back in August 2014.
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Cook County Judge Neil Cohen authorized the release of USD150,000 from the trust fund, as Mack had requested to finance her legal team in Indonesian court. If convicted of premeditated murder, Mack could get the death penalty.
“It’s her money,” Cohen said. “She has a right to counsel of her choice,” Cohen said, as quoted by the Chicago Tribune.
Cohen had reportedly disqualified Mack’s first pick lawyer due to concerns that the attorney had no experience of trying a murder case, but after Mack’s perseverance, he reportedly let Mack get the cash, to be taken in three installments, to the attorney of her choice.
Cohen also reportedly allowed USD2,240 to be released from the USD1.56 million trust fund to pay for Mack’s meals and medical expenses.
Attorney Vaneesa Favia, who apparently represents Mack’s unborn child (to later be named Stella), says Mack complains of the other inmates stealing her food.
Photo by AFP
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