She's barely 3 months old, but the fate of a baby girl being raised a world away in a Bali prison took center stage Friday in a Chicago courtroom where lawyers are fighting over money left by her slain grandmother.
The child, Stella Schaefer, was born in Indonesia in March as her father and teenage mother stood trial on murder charges on the tropical island. The young couple was convicted April 21 of killing the teen's mother last summer during what was supposed to be a paradise vacation.
Mack may give daughter to family in Bali; trust fund case set Friday in Chicago
Heather Mack has cared for her daughter, Stella, behind bars while her lawyers in Chicago try to win her access to a $1.56 million trust fund. One of her lawyers recently said the Chicago teen may allow a family on the island to raise the girl until Mack is freed.
But, in more courtroom drama Friday, Tommy Schaefer's mother told the Cook County judge presiding over the trust fund case that she is concerned about her granddaughter's welfare. Kia Walker told Judge Neil Cohen she fears Stella is being sold for $150,000.
When pressed for proof, Walker told the judge, "Would text messages and a confession be acceptable?"
Cohen urged her to hire a lawyer. Walker declined to answer reporters' questions afterward for fear she would not be quoted accurately.
"No, I'd rather put it in a book," she said.
Mack, who has access to a phone in prison, and her attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
But, earlier this week, attorney Michael Elkin said Mack out of concern for her child may allow a good Samaritan who often visits and helps her with baby supplies to raise her daughter until she is released.
Mack was sentenced to a 10-year prison term after being convicted under Indonesian law of deliberating assisting with a premeditated murder. Her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, was sentenced to 18 years.
If Mack does hand off her baby, Elkin has said, the process would be gradual as Mack still is breast feeding and will be done in the "least traumatic way possible" for the child.
Timeline: Trial in murder of Chicago woman in Bali
Attorneys in the trust fund case in Chicago are awaiting written clarification of how her actual criminal conviction will be interpreted under Illinois law.
At issue is whether Mack still is entitled to the money her mother left her in light of the criminal conviction. Under Illinois' slayer statute, a person who intentionally and unjustifiably caused the death of another person cannot receive property as a result of the death of that person.
Three months before her death, Sheila von Wiese-Mack named Mack — her only child — the sole beneficiary to the trust. But von Wiese-Mack tapped her attorney brother, William, to oversee the money until her daughter's 30th birthday. William Wiese repeatedly raised concerns that the money is being used illegally for bribes in Bali rather than for legitimate attorney fees and a fair trial.
If Mack loses her inheritance, her baby is the likely beneficiary.
On Friday, Cohen urged the lawyers to try to come to agreement. He said lawyers already have eaten up $400,000 in legal fees. One lawyer, for example, has tried to charge the trust $600 an hour for her services. Cohen balked at the request.
"She's suffered enough," Cohen said of the baby. "There should be something left for her and I don't want it to go into the pockets of strangers … I'm not going to allow this child to be ripped off."
Also on Friday, for the first time, von Wiese-Mack's siblings attended the proceeding while in town for a memorial concert to be held Saturday in her honor in Evanston. William Wiese, of Colorado, and his sister, Debbi Curran, of Missouri, said they too want what's best for baby Stella. Both spoke lovingly of their slain sister.
"She was my best friend," Curran said through tears. "I miss her. We will honor her this weekend and for the rest of our lives."
Von Wiese-Mack's battered body was found in a large suitcase her then pregnant daughter and Schaefer left abandoned outside the posh Bali resort where the mother and daughter had been vacationing. Schaefer arrived separately, one day earlier, unbeknownst to his girlfriend's mother.
Schaefer, of Oak Park, testified at his Bali trial that von Wiese-Mack, 62, was angry when she learned about her daughter's pregnancy and tried to strangle him, prompting him to repeatedly strike her with a metal fruit bowl. Mack testified she hid in the bathroom after the argument began.
Prosecutors said Mack helped Schaefer stuff her mother's body into the suitcase. The couple then placed the suitcase in the trunk of a taxi and told the driver they were going to check out of the hotel and would return, but they never did, prosecutors said. Instead, after being denied their passports from the mother's security box inside the hotel, Mack and Schaefer slipped out a back door.
Police arrested them the next morning a few miles away in a budget motel.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-bali-heather-mack-trust-met-20150612-story.html
The child, Stella Schaefer, was born in Indonesia in March as her father and teenage mother stood trial on murder charges on the tropical island. The young couple was convicted April 21 of killing the teen's mother last summer during what was supposed to be a paradise vacation.
Mack may give daughter to family in Bali; trust fund case set Friday in Chicago
Heather Mack has cared for her daughter, Stella, behind bars while her lawyers in Chicago try to win her access to a $1.56 million trust fund. One of her lawyers recently said the Chicago teen may allow a family on the island to raise the girl until Mack is freed.
But, in more courtroom drama Friday, Tommy Schaefer's mother told the Cook County judge presiding over the trust fund case that she is concerned about her granddaughter's welfare. Kia Walker told Judge Neil Cohen she fears Stella is being sold for $150,000.
When pressed for proof, Walker told the judge, "Would text messages and a confession be acceptable?"
Cohen urged her to hire a lawyer. Walker declined to answer reporters' questions afterward for fear she would not be quoted accurately.
"No, I'd rather put it in a book," she said.
Mack, who has access to a phone in prison, and her attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
But, earlier this week, attorney Michael Elkin said Mack out of concern for her child may allow a good Samaritan who often visits and helps her with baby supplies to raise her daughter until she is released.
Mack was sentenced to a 10-year prison term after being convicted under Indonesian law of deliberating assisting with a premeditated murder. Her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, was sentenced to 18 years.
If Mack does hand off her baby, Elkin has said, the process would be gradual as Mack still is breast feeding and will be done in the "least traumatic way possible" for the child.
Timeline: Trial in murder of Chicago woman in Bali
Attorneys in the trust fund case in Chicago are awaiting written clarification of how her actual criminal conviction will be interpreted under Illinois law.
At issue is whether Mack still is entitled to the money her mother left her in light of the criminal conviction. Under Illinois' slayer statute, a person who intentionally and unjustifiably caused the death of another person cannot receive property as a result of the death of that person.
Three months before her death, Sheila von Wiese-Mack named Mack — her only child — the sole beneficiary to the trust. But von Wiese-Mack tapped her attorney brother, William, to oversee the money until her daughter's 30th birthday. William Wiese repeatedly raised concerns that the money is being used illegally for bribes in Bali rather than for legitimate attorney fees and a fair trial.
If Mack loses her inheritance, her baby is the likely beneficiary.
On Friday, Cohen urged the lawyers to try to come to agreement. He said lawyers already have eaten up $400,000 in legal fees. One lawyer, for example, has tried to charge the trust $600 an hour for her services. Cohen balked at the request.
"She's suffered enough," Cohen said of the baby. "There should be something left for her and I don't want it to go into the pockets of strangers … I'm not going to allow this child to be ripped off."
Also on Friday, for the first time, von Wiese-Mack's siblings attended the proceeding while in town for a memorial concert to be held Saturday in her honor in Evanston. William Wiese, of Colorado, and his sister, Debbi Curran, of Missouri, said they too want what's best for baby Stella. Both spoke lovingly of their slain sister.
"She was my best friend," Curran said through tears. "I miss her. We will honor her this weekend and for the rest of our lives."
Von Wiese-Mack's battered body was found in a large suitcase her then pregnant daughter and Schaefer left abandoned outside the posh Bali resort where the mother and daughter had been vacationing. Schaefer arrived separately, one day earlier, unbeknownst to his girlfriend's mother.
Schaefer, of Oak Park, testified at his Bali trial that von Wiese-Mack, 62, was angry when she learned about her daughter's pregnancy and tried to strangle him, prompting him to repeatedly strike her with a metal fruit bowl. Mack testified she hid in the bathroom after the argument began.
Prosecutors said Mack helped Schaefer stuff her mother's body into the suitcase. The couple then placed the suitcase in the trunk of a taxi and told the driver they were going to check out of the hotel and would return, but they never did, prosecutors said. Instead, after being denied their passports from the mother's security box inside the hotel, Mack and Schaefer slipped out a back door.
Police arrested them the next morning a few miles away in a budget motel.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-bali-heather-mack-trust-met-20150612-story.html
