Misty Graves will serve at least 12 years and nine months in prison for the April 17, 1998, killing of Lesean Covington, 27.

Cole County Associate Circuit Judge Pat Joyce imposed the prison sentence this morning, after rejecting a defense motion to set aside the jury’s second-degree murder conviction reached on March 4.

Ms. Joyce imposed the sentences the jury had recommended: 15 years in prison for the murder and one year in prison for concealing the gun used in the killing.

Bill Tackett, the assistant prosecutor who tried the case, said the crime is one of the "seven deadly sins" listed in a new state law that requires her to serve 85 percent of the 15- year sentence.

"I think the jury got to hear all of the evidence," Tackett said, after the sentencing. "The court was very liberal in allowing in all the evidence impeaching the victim’s character and all the evidence of what actually happened inside the car.

"And that’s what you want - you want them to have a complete picture and they got a complete picture. And they came up with the verdict."

Ms. Graves, now 19, had argued she shot Covington in self-defense, as he was hitting her while sitting in the back seat of her car.

Mark Evans, the assistant public defender who represented Ms. Graves, asked the judge to throw out the jury’s verdict because "there was not enough substantial evidence for second-degree murder."

Instead, he argued, a case might be made that Covington’s death was manslaughter.

But, Tackett told the judge, "It’s really the time lapse that supports the second-degree murder conviction.

He said Ms. Graves had testified that she "pulled out the gun and had it in her lap and was waiting to use the gun. …I think there was a sufficient amount of time that she waited that (the jury) took into consideration when they came back with murder-second."

After the request to cancel the verdict was denied, Evans urged the judge to allow Ms. Graves to he released from prison within 120 days, so she could raise her three children. State law allows the release based on an inmate’s behavior and actions while in prison.

But Tackett told reporters Ms. Graves has had trouble in the Cole County Jail. "She’s assaulted two guards and last week someone tried to set her on fire," Tackett said.