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(NewsDakota.com) – Jamestown resident Janelle Cave was sentenced to 11 years in prison Monday for her role in the death of 18-year-old Abdi Ali Ahmed.

The 23-year-old Cave will receive credit for 359 days already served in jail. She will be on five years supervised probation upon her release from the North Dakota Department of Corrections, and was ordered to pay $6,926 in fees and restitution. About $5,400 of that is reimbursement for the cost of Ahmed’s funeral.

Janelle Cave during her sentencing hearing on Monday in Southeast District Court. Photo by John M. Steiner/Jamestown Sun

Cave was convicted Feb. 16 of manslaughter and criminal conspiracy in the death of Ahmed, whose body was discovered near Spiritwood on April 30, 2011.

The criminal conspiracy charge carried a maximum of life imprisonment, which Stutsman County State’s Attorney Fritz Fremgen lobbied for. Cave’s attorney David Ogren asked for 20 years imprisonment with 15 of those years suspended.

Judge Thomas E. Merrick sentenced Cave to 11 years in prison for the criminal conspiracy charge, and eight years in prison for the manslaughter charge, but both sentences will run concurrently.

Co-defendant Leron Lee Howard is scheduled to stand trial on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy this August in Stutsman County. Cave will be required to testify in his trial.

Ahmed’s 19-year-old niece and older sister both spoke during the sentencing hearing for Cave on Monday at the Stutsman County District Courthouse, telling stories of Ahmed and the pain they feel with him gone. Both asked the court to impose the full sentence of life imprisonment for Cave.

Abdi Ali Ahmed's niece Maria Ali reads a statement Monday during the sentencing hearing for Janelle Cave. Photo by John M. Steiner/Jamestown Sun

Cave also spoke at the hearing, issuing a tearful apology and asking Judge Merrick for a second chance, saying she has taken responsibility for what she did that night.

“I took responsibility for what I did that night,” she said, “and all I’m asking for is a second chance.”

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