Dorothy Maraglino and her public defender, Terry Zimmerman

Dorothy Maraglino, a 38-year-old woman from Fallbrook who is currently charged with kidnap, torture, and murder, said, “I’m prepared to represent myself” in San Diego Superior Court on December 18, 2013.

Maraglino made the statement to a judge who had told her that more time was needed for her new court-appointed attorney to prepare for trial. But Maraglino resisted: she first refused to waive her right to a speedy trial,

Attorney Sloan Ostbye and defendant Jessica Lopez.

At the start of the hearing, Maraglino was assigned a new public defender, Terry Zimmerman. Codefendant Louis Ray Perez, 47, was also assigned a new attorney, Brad Patton. The third defendant in the case, Jessica Lynn Lopez, 26, continues to be advised by Sloan Ostbye.

All three defendants pleaded not guilty to a long list of charges connected to the abduction and murder of Brittany Killgore, 22. The victim was married to a Marine deployed to Afghanistan at the time she went missing from the Fallbrook, on April 13, 2012. The young woman’s mutilated body was found four days later, dumped off a road in a neighboring county.

It is widely speculated that the prosecutor will pursue the death penalty in this case.

Judge K. Michael Kirkman was able to convince Maraglino to first discuss matters with her new attorney. All defendants were then ordered to return to the courtroom on January 17.