OGDEN — Prosecutors have urged a judge to deny Brenda Emile’s bid to withdraw her guilty plea to her daughter’s murder, saying that the Ogden woman’s claim of coercion was “a recent fabrication.”

On Aug. 19, the 27-year-old Emile agreed to a plea bargain, admitting to first-degree felony aggravated murder in return for the Weber County Attorney’s Office dropping its request for the death penalty.

Emile’s husband, Miller Costello, 30, took a similar plea bargain on Oct. 5. Charging documents allege that the couple, over more than a year, physically and emotionally abused 3-year-old Angelina Costello. Police said the toddler resembled a Holocaust victim when she died on July 6, 2017, her body drastically emaciated and covered with injuries, including cigarette burns.

But at the start of her scheduled sentencing hearing on Oct. 24, Emile said she wanted to withdraw her plea. A week later, Emile’s attorneys filed a motion for the plea withdrawal, saying Emile’s mother in August had communicated to her an alleged threat from the Costello side of the family that said her surviving children would be harmed if she did not plead guilty.

Prosecutors last week filed a lengthy argument against the plea withdrawal motion, asserting that Emile had failed to meet her burden under state law to demonstrate that she did not “knowingly and voluntarily” plead guilty.

Prosecutors posted summaries of 22 phone conversations Emile had with relatives and others during August, the talks recorded by the Weber County Jail security system, some before and others after she agreed to the plea bargain.

In several calls, Emile explained to her mother that she was pleading guilty to avoid the death penalty. Emile said she was “afraid of being by herself on death row” and that by pleading guilty she might get a sentence of 25 years to life, giving her a chance of eventual parole.

Emile’s mother repeatedly urged her to go to trial. “Is that what you want to do, die in prison?” the mother asked, according to prosecutors. Emile told her mother that she did not understand her available alternatives as laid out by her attorneys.

“Mom, they said it’s gonna be an ugly trial,” Emile said, according to the summaries. “They said if I lose the trial, the death penalty is still imposed.”

Her mother urged her to fire her attorneys and not to plead guilty. She told Emile that by being the first to plead guilty, she would be punished more severely than Costello. Emile’s father and brother also urged her not to plead guilty.

But in none of the calls did Emile’s mother or anyone else communicate anything to her about a threat against her surviving children, the prosecution filing said. “The alleged conversation is a recent fabrication,” prosecutors said.

After Emile signed the plea, her mother urged her to withdraw it and get new attorneys. Emile responded, “Now that the death penalty is off the table there are other ways to fight this.”

Another twist: In a handwritten note to 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda, Emile on Oct. 25 asked for new attorneys, saying the current defenders “do not have my best interest in mind anymore. They talked me into taking my plea deal because I had ‘no other option.'”

Prosecutors and Emile’s public defenders, Martin Gravis and Jason Widdison, are scheduled to argue the withdrawal motion before DiReda on Tuesday afternoon.

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