Myles

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Murder and Defendant’s Guilty Plea2 Defendant reported the victim, Cedric White, missing in February 2004. At the time, defendant was living in White’s home. In April, police executed a search warrant in the home. They found White’s body wrapped in cellophane and entombed beneath a basement workbench, hidden behind installed particleboard. An autopsy revealed signs of blunt trauma to his head. Police also found evidence that defendant had used White’s identification to open a number of credit accounts in his name, with defendant as an authorized user. Purchases on the accounts totaled over $13,000. When defendant was questioned by police about White’s whereabouts, she first indicated she had last seen him a week before, leaving in a cab with a lady friend, headed to China to celebrate the completion of his “ ‘Jazz history’ ” book. In a letter to the probation department, the prosecutor represented that during one interview with police, defendant claimed White was killed by a fall down the stairs, which occurred during an argument with defendant. Defendant told police a female boarder was in White’s house at the time of the argument “but [defendant] was vague…