A Peruvian judge has postponed the trial of a Dutch citizen, who has taken responsibility for a woman's death, but asked for time to decide how to plead.
The judge granted Joran van der Sloot's request as his trial got under way Friday in Lima.
His lawyer says he admits to killing 21-year-old college student Stephany Flores, but disagrees with the prosecutor's charge of aggravated murder. She was found beaten and strangled in his hotel room last year.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail sentence of 30 years. Van der Sloot's lawyer wants a reduced charge of first degree murder, which carries a sentence of eight to 20 years.
Van der Sloot has told police he got angry and strangled Flores after she was caught looking up information about him on his laptop when the case of a missing U.S. woman came up.
Van der Sloot has been at the center of American Natalie Holloway's apparent death investigation in his native Aruba.
He was taken into custody and released following the disappearance of Holloway in 2005.
The U.S. high school student from the southern state of Alabama vanished while celebrating her graduation in 2005. Van der Sloot admits to spending time with Holloway, but has not taken responsibility for her disappearance and presumed death.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
