Kansas Teen Pleads No Contest in Sister’s Killing

A 16-year-old Kansas girl has pleaded no contest to killing her younger sister.

The Salina Journal reports that Sierra Niehaus entered the plea at an early March status conference that had been scheduled in advance of her Saline County District Court trial.

Prosecutors allege Niehaus stabbed her 13-year-old sister, Galazia, to death at the family's rural Saline County home on Aug. 1, 2014.

A judge ruled in April that she could be tried as an adult on a first-degree murder charge. She pleaded no contest to amended charges of second-degree murder, felony theft and two counts of interference with law enforcement.

Saline County Attorney Ellen Mitchell said Thursday the state will be seeking a total sentence of more than 15 1/2 years for Niehaus.