Joel Courtney, who pleaded guilty Monday to the rape and murder of Brooke Wilberger, may spend his life prison sentence for those crimes in New Mexico.

During the legal proceedings in Oregon, Courtney already was serving an 18-year prison sentence stemming from his 2005 guilty plea for kidnapping and sexual assault of a 22-year-old University of New Mexico student. He was extradited to Oregon in 2008 for court proceedings in the Wilberger case.

Steven Gorham, one of Courtney's attorneys, said that part of the plea deal with the prosecution was that the corrections departments in both states would do their best to allow Courtney, 43, to serve his entire life sentence in New Mexico, for both crimes, with no possibility of parole.

As of Tuesday, Courtney was an inmate at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas, N.M., about 30 miles from Albuquerque. Courtney, 43, wanted to stay in New Mexico because his wife and three children live there. To make that happen, the governors of Oregon and New Mexico had to agree to it.

State corrections departments, most of which operate under the Interstate Corrections Compact, can transfer prisoners to other states in exchange for housing prisoners from that state. Prisoners might be transferred for a variety of reasons, but typically have no say in the process.

To keep Courtney in New Mexico once he's completed his 18-year sentence for the 2005 New Mexico crime, both states had to agree they would use their "best efforts" to keep him there. It's not a 100 percent guarantee, Gorham said, but "if possible, he will spend all of (his prison time) in New Mexico."

With a New Mexico address, Courtney will be far from the family of Brooke Wilberger.

Gorham said Courtney and the Wilbergers have not spoken since the sentencing, and that the decision to have contact was up to the Wilbergers.

"(Courtney) has said he would be willing to talk to them," he said.

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