Unless Christina's body is found and 100% implicates EA, he will not get the max 99 years. This is where following other cases come into play. I've seen so many obviously guilty parties found guilty of MURDER not get 99 years.
I completely disagree. What happens with another crime in another place doesn't limit what happens here in any way - its only about this case, this state, this county, with this evidence, this victim, these laws, and so on.
* The evidence here is so compelling imo that the jury won't have any problem finding him guilty.
* In the penalty phase, the prosecutor will point out that this is the most serious version of this crime that can be possible - the kind of abduction where the victim was never seen or heard from again.
* The prosecutor will ask the jury a compelling question: If the 99 years isn't to be applied to the most serious of these crimes, what is it for?
* The prosecutor will remind that this was truly a life ending crime, because EA completely ended the life she had.
* The prosecutor will clearly show the way EA misled and lied to LE.
* He will also point out the way EA has continued to prolong the agony of the family. He can give them some closure at any time, because he knows where he put CM, but has chosen instead to let them continue to suffer.
* The prosecutor will ask the jury if they want to have this monster on the street again, around their loved ones, and take the chance that he might decide to do this again - or do they want to give him 99 and ensure that won't happen.
* And then, the final thing the jury will hear under Texas law will be the family, telling the jury what the crime has done to them, and how EA's refusal to tell what he did with Christina continues to torture them every day.
After all that, I don't think he'd have any real shot to get less than 99. His only way out would be to make a deal to end the torture, and give the family some peace, by telling what he did with her. Is he going to be smart enough to do that while he still has a chance? I don't really know.