Virginia Supreme Court denies appeal for Natalie Keepers

Posted: Dec 10, 2020 / 05:42 AM EST / Updated: Dec 10, 2020 / 07:48 AM EST

(WFXR) — The Virginia Supreme Court denied the appeal of a woman who was convicted for her role in the death of a Blacksburg teenager in 2016.

Natalie Keepers, a former Virginia Tech student, is serving a 40-year sentence after being found guilty in 2018 for being an accomplice in the fatal stabbing of 13-year-old Nicole Lovell and concealment of her body in 2016.

Keepers was granted an appeal hearing on her conviction of being an accessory before the fact to first-degree-murder in October 2019.

“She alleged that her statement to police should have been suppressed and that two jurors should have been struck for cause because they were biased against her,” said Montgomery County Commonwealth’s Attorney Mary K. Pettit at the time.

In February, Keepers’ attorney argued to the Virginia Court of Appeals in Lexington that her trial was unfair due to the defense having played a conversation she had with police in court as evidence.

However, the appeals panel rejected that idea and confirmed the lower court’s conviction back in April. You can read the opinion issued by the Court of Appeals below:

Following that rejection, her lawyers decided to take the issue to the Supreme Court of Virginia, but the petition for appeal was denied.

Now, Keepers has the chance to ask the Virginia Supreme Court to reconsider its latest decision.