LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A judge has denied an attorney’s request for a new trial for a 20-year-old woman convicted of killing her 52-year-old roommate in Lawrence.

District Court Judge Paula Martin on Wednesday denied a second trial for Sara McLinn. She was convicted in March of first-degree murder in the January 2014 death of Harold Sasko, who was found bound and nearly decapitated in the home they shared.

Martin ordered that McLinn be evaluated at Larned State Hospital as part of her pre-sentence investigation.

The jury recommended that McLinn be sentenced to 50 years in prison with no chance of parole. Or the judge could sentence her to Larned State Hospital.

Her attorney, Carl Cornwell, contends McLinn suffered from mental illness and could not have formed the intent to kill Sasko.

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LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The attorney for a 20-year-old woman convicted of killing her 52-year-old roommate in Lawrence is seeking a new trial for her.

Sara McLinn was scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday for the January 2014 death of Harold Sasko, who was found bound and nearly decapitated in the home they shared. She faces a sentence of 50 years in prison with no chance of parole.

Sasko owned several CiCi’s Pizza shops and McLinn had worked for him.

She fled and was found in Florida several days after Sasko’s body was found.

Her attorney, Carl Cornwell, argued throughout her trial that McLinn suffered from mental illness and could not have formed the intent to kill Sasko.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports a new sentencing date has not been set.