Toni Fratto will be a middle aged woman when she breaths free air again.
White Pine District Judge Dan Papez imposed the harshest sentences he could on the West Wendover teen of life in prison plus 20 years for Fratto’s part in the vicious killing last year of 16 year old Micaela Costanzo.
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According to law Fratto must serve at least 10 years of her life sentence before she is eligible for parole and then at least eight years of the enhancement for use of a deadly weapon before she could see a release from prison. With her time already served in the Elko County Jail taken into account Fratto could conceivably serve just 17 more years in prison before she is released.
But while possible it is considered extremely unlikely that Fratto will serve the bare minimum of her sentence. Most first parole requests especially for violent crimes such as Fratto’s are denied almost as a matter of course. In addition, relatives of the victim are always notified and invited to attend and participate in parole hearings by the board.
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While predicting the future is a game for fools, most would agree that anyone from Mickie Costanzo’s family will plead with the board to release their daughter’s killer early is an extremely unlikely scenario. Much more likely would be a passionate request to keep Fratto behind bars longer.
The biggest factor in just how long Toni Fratto will remain behind bars is of course Toni Fratto and even the most generous assessment of the girl’s character does not bode well for an early release.
Fratto a girl with no history of any child abuse from a large family and a loving home and a devout religious upbringing helped commit the most violent, vicious murders in Wendover’s history.
While her few defenders have blamed Kody Patten’s influence on the girl, the fact remains that Fratto came from a place few inmates in the Nevada woman’s prison can imagine let alone dream about.
And yet surrounded by this broad deep support network, Toni Fratto slaughtered a 16 year old girl because as suggested by her psychological report Kody Patten told her to or as suggested by Patten’s lawyers Fratto was cold calculating evil girl.
Whether as sheep or black widow Fratto’s personality does not bode well for keeping out of serious trouble at the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center.
The prison located in North Las Vegas houses all Nevada women felons from those convicted of so called victimless crimes to the most brutal vicious women in the state.
According to its website there are currently 880 inmates in the facility which has the capacity for 950. While the prison boast several rehabilitation programs entry into them is reserved for good nonviolent inmates.
Although not as stressful or as violent as a men’s prison the facility has seen its share of inmate on inmate violence and even inmate on staff violence.
If Toni Fratto is a sheep there are easily over 100 female Kody Paten’s at Florence McClure to get her to do their bidding and if she is a black widow she will be one among many.
Either way Fratto could rack up a list of infractions that would kill her chances of an early release.
The enhancement part of Fratto’s sentence also puts her in the precarious position of being on parole while in prison. The eight year clock on the weapon enhancement only starts ticking after she wins parole on her second degree murder conviction. If she commits another crime or commits an infraction grievous enough to merit the revocation of her parole, the enhancement clock stops until or if she wins parole again for second degree murder.
“People look at the minimum time she could serve and might feel it isn’t enough,” said an attorney close to the case. “But that is the minimum if she becomes a model prisoner. Yes it is possible. But the thing is she already proved she was anything but a model citizen.”
A prison official interviewed ten years ago put it this way.
“For a very few of the inmates here, the minimum is a real goal and they keep their noses clean,” he said. “But you have to understand you aren’t dealing with normal people. They really don’t have control over their impulses. Most of the inmates here will serve everyday of their maximum sentence.”
In Fratto’s case her maximum is life.