Woman convicted in 2015 slaying of mother seeks new trial

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A woman convicted as a teenager in the murder of her mother 6 1/2 years ago has returned to an eastern Pennsylvania courtroom seeking a new trial. Now-20-year-old Jamie Silvonek was sentenced to 35 years to life after pleading guilty in Lehigh County to first-degree murder in the slaying in March 2015, when she was 14 year old. Caleb Barnes of El Paso, Texas, a Fort Meade, Maryland soldier, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole plus 22 to 44 years. Silvonek testified that she plotted the murder of 54-year-old Cheryl Silvonek in Upper Macungie Township and urged Barnes in texts to carry it out.