Leniz "Diablita" Escobar's lawyers on Thursday argued prosecutors had failed to show at trial that their client aimed to boost her standing in the gang but a federal judge did not appear convinced.
He told the judge he was part of a group of MS-13 members and associates tasked with keeping the victims in a wooded area behind a soccer field, where police would later find their mutilated remains piled on top of each other.
An alleged MS-13 gang associate was sentenced to 32 years in federal prison for his role in the killing of four young people who were lured into a Central Islip woods in April 2017.