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Joran van der Sloot pleaded guilty to murder on Wednesday and is slated to be sentenced Friday.
Van der Sloot was on trial for the 2010 murder of a 21-year-old woman in Peru. He was also the main suspect in the Natalee Holloway disappearance. Holloway disappeared in Aruba while on a high school graduation trip with her Alabama classmates.
Van der Sloot, who grew up in Aruba, pleaded guilty to killing Stephany Flores, who he met in a casino in Lima Peru. Flores was killed exactly five years after Holloway disappeared.
"Yes, I want to plead guilty. I wanted from the first moment to confess sincerely," van der Sloot told the court. "I truly am sorry for this act. I feel very bad."
His pleading guilty is an attempt to receive a lighter sentence, according to reports. Van der Sloot faces up to 30 years in jail when the three-judge panel issues a sentence on Friday.
Van der Sloot’s defense attorneys argued that he killed Flores after suffering "extreme psychological trauma" from the ongoing Holloway investigation.
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Van der Sloot confessed to killing Flores after she allegedly found incriminating evidence on his laptop, which linked him to Holloway’s disappearance.
His lawyers argued for a lighter sentence because of van der Sloot’s alleged post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Prosecutors in the case painted a different picture – one of a cold-blooded killer.
Prosecutors maintain that van der Sloot beat and then strangled Flores in his hotel room to rob her after it was rumored she won a sizable amount of money in a casino.
It is unclear how the court may rule on Friday.
In Peruvian law, murder is not a guaranteed sentence of a specific length. Crimes of passion carry a much lighter sentence than murders motivated by robbery.
Van der Sloot could potentially receive a sentence of fewer than 10 years in jail.
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