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Stepmother accused in 10-year-old's murder won't seek insanity defense

Amanda Carmack.JPG
Posted at 5:03 PM, May 14, 2020
and last updated 2020-05-14 17:03:11-04

GRANT COUNTY — The woman accused of killing her 10-year-old stepdaughter and then storing her body in a trash bag in the shed won't pursue an insanity defense or pursue a change of venue.

The revelations come from court documents filed Wednesday in Grant Circuit Court in the case against Amanda Carmack.

Carmack is charged with murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, domestic battery death to a person under 14, and strangulation stemming from the Aug. 31, 2019 murder of Skylea Carmack, 10.

Amanda Carmack filed a notice to the court in September that she sought to use the defense of mental disease or defect. The court ruled in January that she is competent to stand trial.

In March, Carmack's attorneys filed a motion for a change of venue arguing Carmack is unable to receive a fair trial in Grant County because of public hostility against Carmack, public outrage over the offense, prejudicial news reporting or editorializing which castigates the defendant and a social media petition requesting the state to seek the death penalty in the case.

Prosecutors filed a notice of intent to seek life imprisonment without parole shortly after Carmack was arrested in September.

An order filed in the court this week states prosecutors and the defense have agreed to meeet and propose a procedure to identify "qualified and impartial jurors drawn from Grant County."

Carmack's jury trial has been pushed back to Aug. 10 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.