Nicole Baker's attempt to get out of a prison sentence for murder flopped on Monday when a Twin Falls judge dismissed most of her claims.

Baker, 25, is lodged at the Pocatello Women's Correctional Center and did not appear for her hearing on Monday.

She is serving a prison sentence of 12 years to life for first-degree murder and criminal conspiracy, after pleading guilty in the 2006 killing of 19-year-old Jesse Coates.

Coates, 19, was found shot dead in the South Hills in December 2006. Baker and three men were locked up for the killing, which followed a robbery spree.

But now Baker says she took responsibility for something she didn't do.

In an application for post-conviction relief, Baker says she was kidnapped and tortured by men who were convicted in Coates' murder. Baker also says she had an ineffective public defender.

"A plea was made involuntarily under distress and fear of life indeterminate, the usual scare tactics used by malicious prosecution and under paid (sic) public defenders," Baker states in court records. "Instead of believing I was a victim, I was persecuted without investigation."

According to Baker, she was the victim and a missing person report that was filed on her behalf, but never investigated.

Twin Falls County authorities disagree.

"The missing persons report is a fiction," said Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs during Monday's hearing. "Nicole Baker was never missing."

Instead, Baker had actually gone to "lay the groundwork" in the Coates' kidnapping, he said.

Loebs asked Judge G. Richard Bevan to dismiss Baker's request for post-conviction relief, saying none of her claims "rise to level that the court should grant any relief at all."

Bevan agreed Monday that Baker's allegation about being missing was "unsupported" and dismissed her petition for relief on most claims except for one related to her sentencing hearing.

Baker received two years more than the minimum sentence for murder, while two men also convicted of first-degree murder in Coates' homicide got more time. James Roy John Jr. and Fredy Heredia Juarez will spend more than 60 years in prison combined. A third man, Michael Lee John, was convicted of second-degree murder and got 15 years to life.

Coates' family opposed Baker's petition in letters filed with the court.

"I would like to ask, when do we Jesse's family (or Jesse) get to file for any kind of 'relief' as Nicole Lea Baker is now doing," asked Coates' aunt, Shelly Coates, in a letter to Bevan filed Sept. 29.

Baker is eligible for parole on Dec. 27, 2018, according to the Idaho Department of Correction.

Andrea Jackson may be reached at ajackson@magicvalley.com or 208-735-3380.