ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (AP) — A 17-year-old girl who pleaded guilty in the killing of her foster mother in her southern New Mexico home now faces roughly 10 years in prison.
District Court Judge James Counts on Wednesday sentenced Alexis Shields to 30 years in prison but suspended 17 years of the sentence.
The Alamogordo Daily News reports the remaining 13 years of the sentence will be reduced by the 999 days that Shields has spent in custody since Evelyn Miranda was killed in June 2011.
Shields pleaded guilty in December to first-degree felony murder of Miranda, who was found dead in her San Patricio home.
A co-defendant, who also was 15 when Miranda was killed, awaits trial in the case.
Authorities say the girls stole Miranda's car, cellphone and computer. They were captured at a friend's home in Carlsbad.