Angel Vause Challenges 18-Year Sentence in Federal Appeal Hearing

Angel Vause, the longtime girlfriend of Raymond Moody, will argue her federal appeal on Thursday. She seeks to overturn an 18-year prison sentence imposed for lying to the FBI. The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.

A federal judge in Charleston sentenced Vause in February 2025. She pleaded guilty to three counts of making false statements to a federal agent. The judge ordered the six-year sentences for each count to be served consecutively, totaling 18 years. Vause filed an appeal shortly after the sentencing.

Vause’s legal team argues in a brief filed in March 2026 that the district court erred in the sentencing structure. They contend that all three false statements occurred during a single FBI interview. Their attorneys claim that punishing her with three separate sentences violates the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy.

The defense also challenges the enhanced maximum sentence applied by the district court. Vause was not charged with a sex-related offense, nor did she admit to facts that would trigger such an enhancement. Without that enhancement, each count carries a maximum penalty of five years. The district court applied an eight-year maximum per count, citing the connection to a sex crime.

The U.S. government filed a response brief on Feb. 13, 2026. Prosecutors asked the appellate court to affirm the original sentence. They argued that Vause waived her claim regarding the number of counts during the lower court proceedings. The government acknowledged the enhancement was not in the indictment but maintained that Vause cannot prove it caused her harm.

Vause’s sentence includes mandatory mental health training during her incarceration. She will also serve three years of supervision upon release. The court documents state she will be released at the age of 75. The appellate court has not yet announced which judges will sit on the panel for Thursday’s arguments.

Moody confessed in May 2022 to picking up 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel on April 25, 2009. He admitted to kidnapping, raping, and killing her at a campsite in Georgetown County. Vause told FBI agents that she left the campsite to get keys from her son while Drexel was being killed. Prosecutors say she was actually traveling in a different direction with Drexel’s phone.

Moody pleaded guilty to the crime and received a life sentence in October 2022. In November 2024, he told agents that Vause had sent him a text message a week before the abduction. He said the text described her fantasy of snatching a girl. A civil jury awarded Drexel’s mother $700 million in damages from Moody in a separate trial.