KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — The murder trial of Theresa Petto rumbled to an unexpected end when the 43-year-old defendant from Hastings decided to cut the trial short and entered a guilty-but-mentally-ill plea to the charges she faced.
Kalamazoo Circuit Court Judge Alexander Lipsey accepted her plea, dismissed the jury and ended the trial. The defense had made it clear from the beginning that it didn’t plan to challenge the prosecutor’s case.
The evidence was overwhelming that Petto had not coped well with the end of her relationship with a Kalamazoo man, and that she had stalked is new girlfriend, 25-year-old Rachel Drafta.
It was also clear that she planned to confront Drafta in June of last year and from the evidence presented by the prosecutor, clear that Petto shot her in the driveway of her parents’ home in Portage.
Petto wanted to make a statement explaining what happened. She can now do that at sentencing.
Her Attorney Jay Ronning suggested the man who came between the two women bears some responsibility for the way he behaved, but was not specific.
The plea will mean life without parole but she could spend some time receiving mental health treatment during her incarceration.
