Seeing a rifle, she decided to kill her father. Finding her father asleep on the sofa, she shot him. This shot broke his collarbone and startled him awake. In fear, Stacey closed her eyes and shot again. The next day, she consulted with an adult friend, who encouraged her and helped her to dispose of the murder weapon. She called the police, pretending to have found her father dead on the sofa upon returning home. But, she confessed the murder to Lt. Tom Schulte, and said it was because of the years of abuse she had suffered. Stacey Lannert was charged with first degree murder and other felonies. Lannert's lawyer offered the defense of insanity or mental defect after his attempt to use the "battered spouse syndrome" in her defense. In a pre-trial ruling, the court limited mention of "battered spouse syndrome" but allowed the defendant to make "an offer of proof of self-defense". The St. Louis County prosecutor, Bob McCulloch, never called Schulte to testify, although he was the first official to talk with Lannert and had years of experience with sexual abuse victims. The judge refused to include any claim of self-defense in his instructions to the jury. "But under Missouri law, the self-defense argument was not valid because she wasn't in actual danger at the moment she pulled the trigger." The judge concluded that there was not any basis in the evidence for her claim of self-defense. The jury found her guilty in 1992 and sentenced her to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, as required by the law. The prosecutors had alleged that she murdered her father because she wanted his money. Lannert claimed that her father had sexually abused her from the age of eight. She said although she had reported the abuse to her guidance counselor, babysitter, and psychiatrist, no one took action to help her. Several expert witnesses testified at both Lannert's trial and appeal, agreeing that Lannert showed signs of abuse. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Her sister Christy was tried and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. She was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. She was released on parole after serving two and a half years. After the judge's sentencing, some members of the jury expressed outrage that facts of sexual and physical abuse suffered by Lannert had not been introduced at the trial. The presiding judge, the Hon. Steven H. Goldman, issued this statement regarding Stacey Lannert's case:  [The] sentence is severe for a 20 year old.