NOT GUILTY! Bustamante pleads

Alyssa Bustamante sat silently in court yesterday, cold and emotionless, before her attorney entered a not guilty plea to charges in her arraignment for the first-degree murder of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten by strangulation and stabbing, along with armed criminal action. By doing so, she waived a formal arraignment to the charges handed down to her by Cole County Circuit Court Judge Pat Joyce.

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In the courtroom sat family and friends of the victim, all wearing pink. A handful of Bustamante’s supporters sat on the other side. Her grandmother, who is her legal guardian, was not there.

During a November 18 hearing, she was certified to stand trial as an adult. A few hours later, she stood in front of Cole County Judge Jon Beetum to be arraigned. Because she had no lawyer present, the judge entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.

Originally, the status hearing was scheduled for December 7 to see if Bustamante had an attorney. That hearing was cancelled on December 3 and the re-arraignment was scheduled for yesterday because she is now being represented by a public defender, Jan King.

“Its routine for the court to only do the arraignment when the lawyer is available with his or her client,” Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson said.“So, back on the 18th, what occurred actually was the judge read the charges to her, informed her of the charges, but did not conduct an official arraignment.”

He continued to elaborate why that is. “On an arraignment, the courts want to ensure that the person’s lawyer is there and available because that arraignment triggers certain time limitations to file certain motions.”

Bustamante’s lawyer has already filed one of the motions; a request that she be transferred to the Fulton State Mental Hospital for a few days for evaluation. Judge Joyce did not rule on that request because her attorney did not ask the judge to consider the motion.

Under Missouri law, when a suspect under the age of 16 commits a crime, the death penalty cannot be sought. Despite her being tried as an adult, the most she can get, if found guilty, is life in prison without parole.

While Bustamante’s case was still in juvenile court, Judge Beetum was overseeing the proceedings, Juvenile Court Lawyer Samantha Green was the prosecutor and Kurt Valentine was her lawyer. That all changed when she was charged as an adult. A lot changed in Cole County, too, after Elizabeth Olten’s senseless death - all because a teenage girl wanted to know what it felt like to kill. Today, she will remain behind bars at the Morgan County Jail because there is little room for female inmates at the Cole County Jail. There is no room in our minds for the sad and violent death of Elizabeth Olten, either. One day, justice will come. Until then, we must wait and let the wheels of justice turn slowly, just like Caylee Anthony, gone a year and a half now.

Bustamante has a status hearing scheduled for February 16, a little more than two months away.