DRAPER TEEN ADMITS KILLING FRIEND WITH DOSE OF HEROIN, COCAINE

WEST JORDAN - An 18-year-old Draper woman admitted Thursday to giving
her friend a lethal injection of heroin and cocaine last year and
then dumping the body in the hills above Bountiful. Macall Petersen
pleaded guilty to a class A misdemeanor charge of negligent homicide
in connection with the June 25 death of 18-year-old Amelia Sorich.
For dumping the body, Petersen pleaded guilty to desecration of a
dead human body, a third-degree felony. In exchange for her pleas,
three other third-degree felonies - two counts of drug possession and
one count of obstructing justice - were dismissed.

Those charges alleged Petersen destroyed drug evidence, abandoned
Sorich's car and threw the victim's personal possessions into trash
bins. Petersen faces the possibility of up to six years in prison
when she is sentenced May 30 by 3rd District Judge Royal Hansen. In
court Thursday, Petersen admitted to twice injecting Sorich with
drugs, but her attorney claimed it was "at the desire of Ms. Sorich."
When the victim began having a negative reaction, Petersen admitted
she should have known, from her own drug experience, that Sorich
needed medical attention.

Instead, she argued with co-defendant Jasen Calacino, against calling
911. Calacino, 20, who is also charged with negligent homicide,
desecration of a dead human body and obstructing justice, is
scheduled for a preliminary hearing on April 19. The victim's mother,
Kathryn Sorich, told the judge she was not happy with the plea deal
Advertisementor the original charges. "I feel Macall Petersen should
have been charged with murder," Sorich said. She claimed her daughter
had never before injected drugs and "would never have allowed herself
to be injected with drugs. "She was not a druggie.

She innocently went to Macall's house for a sleepover and ended up
dead." Prosecutor Sean Torriente said the Salt Lake County District
Attorney's Office researched the case extensively and determined
negligent homicide was the most severe charge they could prove
against Petersen. Defense attorney Rudy Bautista claimed Petersen had
been overcharged with the negligent homicide count.

He said there were "numerous defenses" he could have been raised at
trial, but Petersen wanted to resolve the case. After the hearing,
Kathryn Sorich said she will ask for the maximum punishment for
Petersen at Petersen's sentencing hearing. "Anyone who could inject
her best friend with drugs and then watch her die . . . "