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Madeline Soto Case: Why Did Prosecutors Accept a Plea Deal for Stefan Sterns?
In a stunning development in the Madeline Soto case, convicted killer Stefan Sterns has escaped the death penalty after prosecutors accepted a plea deal sentencing him to life in prison.
Madeline Soto, just 11 years old, was subjected to years of horrific abuse by Sterns — her mother’s boyfriend — before she was ultimately murdered. Prosecutors initially divided the charges into two categories: the sexual assault counts and the homicide. The death penalty was on the table in the murder case, and under Florida’s new laws it could have also been pursued in the child sexual abuse case. Yet, in a…
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