A May 9 trial has been set for a Phoenix woman charged with murder in the 2011 death of a 10-year-old who was padlocked in a plastic trunk for hours.
Sammantha Lucille Rebecca Allen and her husband, John Michael Allen, have pleaded not guilty to charges in the death of Sammantha Allen's cousin, Ame Deal.
Authorities say Deal died after John Allen padlocked her in the footlocker as discipline for having stolen Popsicles.
She was left in the plastic box all night and was found dead the next morning.
Sammantha Allen is accused of coaching another child to say that Deal was playing hide and seek the night before her death and that she wasn't found before everyone went to bed.
John Allen is scheduled for trial on June 27.
