CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Supreme Court denied a request by a St. Albans woman to reject her life sentence for her role in killing another woman Thursday.
Jessica Wilson was sent to prison for life without mercy after she pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Nancy Burdette Lynch.
Lynch, 66, was found dead in her home in Jan. 2014 several days after she was killed. Wilson and another man, Timothy Shafer had allegedly planned to rob her of cash and presciption painkillers.
Wilson’s lawyers argued that prosecutors broke a plea deal agreed to by both sides in the case.
After Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom denied the request, the sentence was appealed to the WV Supreme Court.
Justice Robin Davis wrote in her decision that the prosecution “did not breach its agreement to remain silent as to sentencing, there were no improper factors considered in the court’s sentencing decision, and the sentence imposed was well within the court’s discretion and amply justified under the facts and circumstances of this case.”