JUNEAU -- A Superior Court judge on Monday said she stands by her decision to throw out statements made by a Craig teen during a police interrogation after her mother's murder.
The state immediately said it will take the case to the Alaska Court of Appeals.
Judge Patricia Collins announced her decision during a status hearing in the case of Rachelle Waterman, accused of conspiring with two former boyfriends last year to kill her mother, Lauri Waterman, 48.
Waterman's murder trial ended Feb. 14 with a hung jury and a reported jury vote of 10-2 in favor of acquittal.
Then, two weeks ago, Collins dismissed all charges against the teen, saying evidence offered during the trial suggested police coerced apparently incriminating statements from her. Collins said she had to dismiss the charges since those statements were the basis for the grand jury indictment.
Collins gave the state until Monday to either appeal her decision or refile charges and reduced Waterman's bail.
Last week, state prosecutors asked Collins to reconsider her decision and let them offer evidence against suppressing the statements.
Waterman, now 17, has been free on bail since the indictment was dismissed. Collins warned Waterman that the appeals court could take months, even more than a year, to return a decision.
Also this month, Collins sentenced the two men Waterman was accused of plotting with to life sentences.
Jason Arrant and Brian Radel were given 99 years each for the murder, with 49 years suspended for Arrant and none for Radel.
