Tina Morris’ actions after she fatally stabbed IPFW junior Liette “Lola” Martinez on April 18 made her defense of not guilty by insanity impossible to prove, her attorney told Morris’ parents outside court this morning.

Morris pleaded guilty to one count of murder. Morris, a 36-year-old mother of three grown children, wiped away tears as she was told she faced a sentence of between 45 and 60 years. Her sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 19. Morris’ father, Henry Brewer, said he advised his daughter not to plead guilty because she told him she stabbed Martinez in self-defense.

Morris’ decision to take Martinez’s car and drive it to Indianapolis, where she used Martinez’s credit cards, made the not guilty by insanity argument difficult to prove, defense attorney Tony Churchward told Brewer outside the courtroom.

According to investigators, Morris stabbed and killed the 22-year-old exchange student from New Mexico State in her apartment-style dorm room at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne’s Waterfield student housing campus. Morris, the mother of one of Martinez’s roommates, had been staying in the dorm during the two weeks leading up to the killing, violating the school’s 72-hour rule for same-sex guests. The two, according to court documents, had been arguing about how Martinez had treated Morris’ daughter the night before the killing.

While Brewer contended his daughter acted in self-defense, he said his heart went out to the Martinez family. “Anytime you send your child to school, you want the best for them. It’s just unfortunate it happened.”