OGDEN — An Ogden woman intends to withdraw her guilty plea in the torture and starvation death of her 3-year-old daughter five years ago.

Brenda Emile was in 2nd District Court on Monday morning for what had been scheduled to be the start of a five-day sentencing hearing when her lead attorney, Martin Gravis, told Judge Michael DiReda of the change of plans.

In a plea bargain accepted by DiReda on Aug. 19, Emile, 27, pleaded guilty to first-degree felony aggravated murder, with the Weber County Attorney’s Office dropping its request for the death penalty.

Emile, wearing a jail-issue orange jumpsuit, started to tell DiReda the reason she wants to withdraw her plea, but co-defense attorney Jason Widdison motioned her to silence. Gravis said the attorneys would file a plea withdrawal motion within a few days.

“A motion to withdraw is not a guarantee,” DiReda told Emile, explaining that prosecutors and defense attorneys will now make filings on the matter and argue it in another hearing. At that point the judge may accept the plea withdrawal or reject it. He said judges generally are less likely to accept withdrawal motions if they are not made soon after the plea.

He provisionally rescheduled her sentencing hearing for Jan. 23, 2023.

Monday’s development in Emile’s case comes 12 days after her husband, Miller Costello, 30, agreed to a similar plea bargain. They were arrested on July 6, 2017, in the death of Angelina Costello.

Before the plea bargains, prosecutors had been pursuing the death penalty. During earlier hearings, Costello’s lead attorney, Randall Marshall, unsuccessfully urged DiReda to reject the capital punishment move, arguing a public consensus against the death penalty has developed in Utah.

Under the couple’s plea bargains, the capital offense provision was dropped, reducing the charge to a first-degree felony. After sentencing hearings, they would be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison or life without the possibility of parole. However, if Emile’s motion is granted, her case would revert to the pretrial stage, with either a different plea bargain or a trial to follow.

In Costello’s plea bargain on Oct. 5, he said Emile was with Angelina most of the time, because he was at work during the days. He told police he was aware of the toddler’s deteriorating health condition and that she would die if not treated. “Brenda told Miller that she did not want to get medical attention for the child victim because she did not want a police investigation or to have her children taken from her,” the plea bargain document said.

Contacted after Monday’s hearing, Gravis and Widdison declined to comment on the reasons for Emile’s desire to withdraw her plea.

Ogden police officers reported that Angelina had bruises, scrapes, cuts and open sores on her face, hands, legs, head and neck. A medical examiner removed the girl’s clothing and found a large burn on her chest. Her back, legs and feet were covered with bruises, cuts and cigarette burns. Some of the injuries appeared to be recent, others in various stages of healing. Signs of malnourishment included sunken stomach and facial features and thin, atrophied limbs.

An autopsy revealed the child had suffered “substantial” injuries to her brain, pancreas, face and extremities. She had leg fractures and burn scars all over her body.

Both parents taunted Angelina with food, first offering it to her and then withdrawing it, charging documents said. Some of the child’s injuries were covered with makeup as a concealment.

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