RUFUS – Mesa Governor Joshua Adamson’s shooting suspect Susan Plateman refuses plea offer, guaranteeing trial, and facing 50-70 years in prison according to her attorneys and prosecutors respectively. The decision was announced by her lawyers in an early morning conference.

Plateman was arrested on April 30, just less than one week after she attempted to kill the Governor in a failed assassination plot. A search of Plateman’s home reveals she also had plans to kill other Republican officials including President Jay Laylin, Vice President Cole Bindle, House Speaker Gregory Harks, and several other lawmakers.

But as she now faces the real possibility of life in prison, she has opted to go for a jury trial instead, which her attorneys and other legal experts were not expecting. A judge has set her trial for August, with it likely lasting several months.

“It is very surprising that she is foregoing a plea agreement, that I’ve heard is quite generous,” said Stephen Mayser, a legal analyst on case law. “Usually in a case where a plea agreement is offered, they generally take it and not try to go to trial. Her decision, which is her right is interesting and unusual. She is facing life behind bars and that is something that makes her decision to not accept the plea agreement unusual.”

Her lawyers continue to avoid questions about the case and their next steps and refuse to answer any questions related to the case or trial decision. If she is found guilty, she faces 50-70 years in prison. She is also facing a federal case due to the discovery of a manifest to kill President Laylin, Vice President Bindle, and other congressional leaders. She had planned to assassinate North Lorray Governor Joey Rigg and also assassinate several Republican state law makers in Mesa.