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OGDEN — The mother of a child whose deceased 3-year-old daughter was found so malnourished that police compared her to a Holocaust victim is now asking to withdraw her guilty plea, while the child's father recently took a plea deal in order to avoid the death penalty.
Brenda Emile, 27, was scheduled for a multi-day sentencing hearing starting Monday morning. But right before the proceedings began, she left the courtroom with defense attorney Martin Gravis.
When they returned, Gravis said Emile wants to withdraw her guilty plea and that he'll file the motion by Oct. 24. Prosecutors will have two weeks to file a response before the defense receives several more days to file any reply. Second District Judge Michael Direda will then review the motions and decide if he'll allow Emile to withdraw her guilty plea.
Emile initially pleaded not guilty in 2018 to aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, but changed her plea to guilty in August this year.
She was advised in court on Monday to not speak about why she wants to withdraw her guilty plea. When reached by phone, Gravis said he was not commenting on Emile's case. However, he confirmed that 30-year-old Miller Costello, the child's father, took a plea deal on Oct. 5 in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
Costello's six-day sentencing is scheduled for the end of January and early February. Direda also tentatively rescheduled Emile's sentencing around the same time, in case he dismisses her motion to withdraw her guilty plea.
Gravis said the sentencing proceedings are scheduled for multiple days because they're also evidentiary hearings.
KSL previously reported that charging documents describe a pattern of ongoing abuse by the parents of Angelina Costello, particularly by Emile. Neither parent sought needed medical attention for the girl because they didn't want police to take their children away, charges state.
The investigation started July 6, 2017, when Ogden police officers were called to a residence in the 2800 block of Grant Avenue on a report that a child was not conscious or breathing, according to police.
When officers arrived, they found that Angelina was already deceased and appeared to have been dead for some time, according to charging documents. Detectives observed "bruising, contusions, lacerations, burns, open sores and abrasions all over (the girl's) face, hands, legs, head and neck," according to charging documents. Angelina was also "extremely malnourished," charges state.
Investigators also found video and photographic evidence on the couple's cellphones of the ongoing and progressive abuse starting in January 2016, charges state.
"The videos also appear to show both (Costello and Emile) taunting the child victim with food by presenting it to her and then removing it from her and disciplining her," according to charging documents.
A judge later ordered the couple be held without bail after prosecutors pointed to records searches for Costello and Emile that revealed more than a dozen alternative names and addresses in multiple states for each of them.
Additionally, prosecutors noted, the couple had more than $45,000 in cash when arrested, including an $8,000 cashier's check, and a warrant is pending for Costello in Montana stemming from allegations of fraud and witness tampering filed in October 2016. They also presented evidence the couple had lied about their identities when they rented their Ogden home, claiming Emile was a single mother of two children and Costello was just visiting, according to prosecutors.
