Telegraph file photo Nicole Kasinskas, who is seeking a hearing on her petition to have her prison sentence commuted, is shown in Superior Court during her 2005 plea and sentencing hearing.

CONCORD – The Executive Council on Wednesday voted 4-1 to table a request for a sentence-commutation hearing by the Nashua woman serving prison time in connection with the 2003 murder of her mother.

Nicole Kasinskas, now 32, pleaded guilty to charges accusing her of scheming with her then-boyfriend, William Sullivan, to kill Jeanne Dominico because she wouldn’t let her daughter move in with Sullivan, who lived in Willamantic, Connecticut at the time.

She was sentenced in September 2005 to a minimum of 35 years in State Prison for Women, a sentence she is now seeking to have commuted – a process by which a defendant’s prison term is reduced, either in part or in its entirety. The power to commute a sentence rests with governors as well as the president.

Councilors must first grant Kasinskas a hearing on the matter, which, according to reports from Wednesday’s meeting, members plan to look at more closely ahead of their next scheduled meeting on June 10.

The lone “no” vote was cast by Councilor Ted Gatsas, Republican of Manchester.

Councilor Debora Pignatelli, Democrat of Nashua, said she opposes commuting Kasinskas’s sentence, but left open the possibility she might reconsider her position, according to reports.

The fact the murder, which Pignatelli referred to as “a horrific crime … unspeakable,” occurred in her city may be behind her current position.

While Kasinskas, who had just turned 16 at the time of the murder in August 2003, reached a plea deal that included testifying against Sullivan, he was convicted at trial and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

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Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.