For the moment, Billy Curl’s guilty plea remains in place.

Curl tried to withdraw his guilty plea in the 2010 murder of NIU student Antinette “Toni” Keller Monday, but his request was denied. Curl’s attorney, Daniel Transier, said his client plans on appealing Monday’s decision and will continue trying to withdraw his plea.

Curl put in an Alford plea in April. His plea deal came with 37 years in prison but allowed him to maintain his innocence while acknowledging prosecutors could likely prove the charges he faced.

Keller went missing in October 2010. Days later, burned human remains were found in the park to which Keller told friends she was going. The remains were later identified as the NIU freshman’s.

Curl had a 30-day deadline to withdraw his plea but asked for special consideration. The States Attorney’s office argued in court that since the deadline had passed, the court did not have jurisdiction over Curl’s case. Judge Robbin Stuckert agreed with the office and the matter was dismissed.

“It didn’t have to take this long,” said Keller family spokesperson Thelma Holderness, referring to the denial of Curl’s motion to withdraw his plea.

Holderness participated in a demonstration on April 8 objecting to the Alford plea Curl made. On Monday, she said she preferred the plea stay in place rather than having the matter go to trial.

“I’d rather it go to trial if Richard Schmack wasn’t our state’s attorney,” Holderness said. She believes Schmack lacks experience.

Holderness said she didn’t have confidence Schmack could get a conviction.

Stephanie Klein, an attorney in Schmack’s office, said she thinks Schmack’s office could get a conviction if the case were to go to trial, but said the Alford plea achieved an appropriate result.