North Central District Court Judge Stacy Louser turned down murder conspirator Cynthia Louise Wilder’s motion for post-conviction relief on Wednesday.

Wilder is serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for helping her husband plan the 2015 murder of his ex-wife. She asked to withdraw her guilty plea and take the matter to trial because she claimed both of her defense attorneys in the case had provided her with inadequate assistance of counsel.

Louser was unpersuaded by Wilder’s arguments. Louser ruled that both defense attorneys in the case had provided adequate representation. Wilder also cannot prove that it would be a manifest injustice if she is not granted a new trial.

Ward County State’s Attorney Roza Larson had argued that Wilder gambled and lost at the sentencing hearing and claimed ineffective assistance of counsel mainly because she does not like the sentence that Louser handed down.

The defense had asked for a sentence of 20 years, with 10 years suspended, and the prosecution had recommended 25 years, with five years suspended. It was up to Louser to decide on the final sentence and she chose to sentence Wilder to the maximum of life without parole.

Wilder’s husband, Richie Edwin Wilder Jr., stabbed his ex-wife, Angila Wilder, to death at her Minot residence on Nov. 1, 2015. The former couple had a contentious relationship and had argued over custody of their children. He was subsequently convicted at trial and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Cynthia Wilder later confessed her role in planning the murder to an old friend who had approached Minot police about concerning statements she had made to him and agreed to meet with her and wear a wire. In the recorded conversation, Cynthia Wilder admitted to the man that she had staked out Angila Wilder’s home to see what time people came to and left from the residence and that she and her husband had been planning the murder for two years prior.

Cynthia Wilder later protested that she had exaggerated what she told the confidential informant and not everything she said was true. She had a romantic interest in the confidential informant who recorded his conversations with her.

Grant Walker, Cynthia Wilder’s defense attorney in the appeal, declined to comment Thursday when The Minot Daily News inquired whether Cynthia Wilder will appeal Louser’s decision.

Cynthia Wilder is serving her sentence at the women’s prison in New England.