Cornett Files Appeal in Federal Court

Saturday, May 10, 2003
by Associated Press

(Greeneville-AP) -- A woman sentenced to life in prison for the roadside murders of a six-year-old and her parents is asking a federal court for relief.
Natasha W. Cornett filed a writ of habeas corpus petition May second in U-S District Court in Greeneville.
In the appeal, she raises essentially the same issues she argued unsuccessfully in various state courts.
Those include that her attorneys were ineffective and that she didn't voluntarily or intelligently enter into a plea bargain.
Cornett and five other young people were convicted of first-degree murder in the 1997 shooting deaths of Vidar and Delifina Lillelid (LIHL'-ih-lihd) and their daughter, Tabitha.
Cornett was 19 and the alleged ringleader.
Her co-defendants ranged in age from 14 to 20.
All were sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.







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