Joran Van Der Sloot Gets 28 Years in Peru, Now US Wants Him
Jan. 13, 2012— -- Joran van der Sloot was sentenced today to 28 years in a Peruvian prison for strangling a woman there, and American officials are now expected to bring him to Alabama to face charges in connection with the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway.
The attorney for Holloway's mother, John Q. Kelly, said after today's sentencing that he hopes van der Sloot will be extradited to the U.S. within "a couple of months."
Van der Sloot is charged with extorting $25,000 from Holloway's grieving mother Beth Holloway in exchange for information about the location of Natalee's body. After receving the money, van der Sloot admitted lying about where the girl's body was buried.
"We anticipate that U.S. authorities will move quickly to bring him to Alabama to face pending federal charges and to answer for his past conduct in Aruba," Kelly had said prior to the sentencing.
The U.S. District Attorney in Birmingham, where the case against van der Sloot will be prosecuted, did not immediately return calls for comment. They had previously told ABC News that they had made arrangements with Interpol to have van der Sloot extradited to the U.S.
Any sentence he might receive in the U.S. would be served in conjunction with the 28 years he was sentenced in Peru, Kelly said.
Van der Sloot, 24, looked slovenly and confused during his long court sentencing in a Lima courtroom today and was visibly angry when the judge ordered him to spend the next 28 years in prison. He appeared to be cursing out loud. The court also ordered him to pay $75,000 in reparations.
Under Peru's laws, however, van der Sloot could get out after serving half of his sentence.
The Dutch national let his anger show again when at the end of the judge's ruling.
Van der Sloot pleaded guilty Wednesday to strangling Stephany Flores, a 21-year-old Peruvian businesswoman whom he killed on May 31, 2010, exactly five years after Holloway disappeared.
Flores, the 21-year-old daughter of a wealthy and influential Peruvian businessman and former star race car driver, was found strangled in van der Sloot's hotel room in 2010. The two had reportedly met at a Lima casino.
Van der Sloot's lawyer told the court earlier in the hearing that his client had killed Flores beacuse of the psychological trauma of being accused in the Holloway case.
"Yes, I want to plead guilty. I wanted from the first moment to confess sincerely," van der Sloot said Wednesday in court. "I truly am sorry for this act. I feel very bad."
Prosecutors had asked for a 30 year sentence for first-degree murder and theft in Flores' case.
Van der Sloot, who lived in Aruba, fled Peru, but was arrested three days later in Chile.
He reportedly claimed in a confession shortly after the slaying that he'd killed Flores because she found information linking him to Holloway on his computer.
Van der Sloot had twice been arrested for the disappearance of Holloway, a 19-year-old from Alabama who vanished during a celebratory trip to Aruba with her senior class in May 2005.
Van der Sloot maintained that he'd left her on a beach, drunk. That's the last anyone has seen of her.
ABC News' Joe Goldman contributed to this report
