Wrapping up a two-year grisly case in South Lake Tahoe, an El Dorado County Superior Court judge handed Lisa Ann Platz a life sentence in state prison Friday for her involvement in the first-degree murder of her 9-year-old daughter.

The maximum sentence, which included no chance of parole and a restitution order of $12,000, followed a six-week trial that brought District Attorney Gary Lacy back to the courtroom after nine years. The trial led to a jury conviction in March.

Ten days after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Rebbeca Aramburo’s throat was fatally slashed in a tent at Campground by the Lake – the apparent ending of a child-custody dispute gone awry. Officers found the body when they stormed the tent, ending a nine-hour standoff with Platz, 33, and her bloody companion, James Csucsai. The 35-year-old man later hung himself with a bedsheet in jail.

Platz, an Alaska native who ran from the law with Csucsai after kidnapping her daughter from her grandparents in Lakewood, Wash., a month before, didn’t flinch as Judge Jerald Lasarow told her how difficult it was to impose the sentence because he considered her a cooperative defendant.

“Ms Platz, since she’s been in this court, has been a nice lady. But nice ladies do commit crimes,” Lasarow said, adding the case has haunted him. “This is not an easy day for me. I’ve never lost so much sleep on a case.”

He shared his thought that Platz “couldn’t face the fact” that Rebbeca’s natural father, Jose Aramburo, could have involvement in his daughter’s life.

The judge acknowledged the defense and prosecution had differing perspectives on what happened on that day.

At the time, they had faced kidnapping charges on a Washington state warrant and federal charges for flight to avoid prosecution.

Lasarow made a painstaking claim that he still doesn’t know who held the military knife that caused the death of the vulnerable, young girl.

“Why, and I’ll probably never know the answer to this, why didn’t Ms Platz do something to release her daughter?” he asked. At one point, he directed the question to Platz, as she sat motionless with her hair tied up in a tight braid.

With an eerie stillness in the courtroom, Lasarow denied a motion by county Public Defender Rick Meyer to lessen the murder charge to second degree.

The sentencing hearing brought forth two hours of arguments and redirects from Meyer and Lacy, a departure for the two men who casually chatted as they walked into the courthouse before the hearing.

Meyer called Csucsai “nuts,” characterizing him as a mentally disturbed man who killed Rebbeca when he acted on a family annihilation syndrome that placed the trio’s lives in jeopardy. He said his client feared for she and her daughter’s lives and suffered from shock from her own knife wounds on her wrists.

Lacy countered that Platz took part in a double suicide pact that consequently included the young girl.

“Unlike what Mr. Meyer is trying to portray, Lisa Platz was not a victim in this case. She was an active participant,” he said.

But Meyer asserted the authorities were “concerned to get her head on a platter.”

But Lasarow reminded Meyer Lacy could have sought the death penalty for his client.

Platz is due to serve her time immediately. She is expected to be transferred to the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla when arrangements are finalized.

The public defender pledged his intention to appeal the case. He has 60 days to do so.

– Susan Wood can be reached at (530) 542-8009 or via e-mail at swood@tahoedailytribune.com